


An Irregular's Guide To Boarding School

by thebiroxboy



Series: An Irregular's Guide [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, M/M, Magic, Musical References, Musicals, Mystery, Original Character(s), Other, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2019-08-19 03:25:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 119,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16526426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebiroxboy/pseuds/thebiroxboy
Summary: Second part of An Irregular's Guide To Survive a Witch School.An original story that sort of turned into a musical fic.For the second part Tyler needs to face a bigger threat when his family is in danger and now he is forced to get into the school not as a commuting student but another boarding student. Now he needs to face the voices in his head, the relationships with the other boarding students he is forced onto and the dark haired jerk who keeps turning his wold upside down.What will happen with his friends?Now what will happen with all the dangers to come?What will happen with the kids that got kidnapped last term?.Welcome all to your second year on Diaz' School for witchcraft!





	1. Chapter 1, The Fire

**Author's Note:**

> WELCOME WELCOME TO THE SECOND PART  
> I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS AND IM SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS STORY THAT IM WRITING ALL IN CAPSLOCK! HOLY SHIT!
> 
> BUT SRSLY I HAVE A NEW STORY, A BIT MORE DARKER AND A BIT MATURE, OUR BOY IS GROWING UP AND NEW THINGS WILL HAPPEN NOW, PLEASE ENJOY THE FIRST CHAPTER AND I WILL BE SURE TO UPDATE SOON

Chapter 1.  
The fire.

He knew he was dreaming, he had dreams like these all the time, so when he heard the music playing and didn’t recognize the place where he was at, he knew he was dreaming.  
*Now playing: Find Me by Kings of Leon*

The music began. He saw Tyler sleeping on a bed, perhaps his bed. He was wearing some black t-shirt and shorts, he tried not to blush seeing him but as the music passed from the first seconds he saw Tyler sinking on his bed and from the sheets.

Suddenly Tyler was falling on a black space, under him there was fire and he crossed the fire and he suddenly was changed into all white clothes.

He kept falling until he got caught by several hands, they were his friends. He opened his eyes that were now filled with tears and tried to smile at them smiling back at him.

Suddenly he saw the school. The sky was grey that day and he saw Tyler looking at the water from one of the towers and he opened his mouth as he heard the song play. ‘’I see you on a western sky’’ The scenery suddenly changed and he saw Lucia and Alex mutter the words as well. ’All my best tonight’’ muttered Alex next to a gargoyle near a pillar of the second floor of the castle. ’Out in the dark’’ Lucia sang sadly next to him as only her was swallowed by shadows.

He then saw the Luciferus cousins sitting next to each other on a dock near the sea that surrounded the school. ‘’You always seem to come my way. Come and take your shape’’ they sang as Winnifred rested her head on Winn’s shoulders and quietly seemed to sob.

Next to the forest looking at the night sky, directly to the moon, he saw a boy with silver hair in an afro‘’ Out on the stars. I really wanna know your name’’ he said and looked straight at him ‘’ See your face, know who you are, who you are’’

Then in front of the school he saw a boy with white hair and blue eyes, one of his eyes covered by hair and he was looking straight and serious at him. ‘’ How did ya find me, how did ya find me?’’ he asked and his body got engulfed on flames. The sky changed to a sunset and still in front of the school from the fire came Tyler smiling at him ‘’ what are you looking for, are you looking for’’ he sang and then he was again transported to the forest.

He saw a black girl with a cloak looking at the sky, she was crying ‘’ How did ya find me how did ya find me. Up in the shadow, picking up my load’’ she sang.

The music kept playing but nobody was singing this time. He saw a bunch of skulls all over the place he saw someone sitting on a throne on top of the skulls but he could not identify who that was. He could only see a long hat that moved with the wind and ruins on the back… the ruins looked familiar.

‘’I'm waiting on the smoke to rise from behind your eyes. Send me away’’ he saw then the figure come closer. ‘’ Follow me into the wild with a twisted smile, I can't escape’’ the figure smiled, a wicked smile that could make anyone shiver.

He now saw himself next to Tyler holding his hand‘’ Now I got you by my side, all my life, and day after day’’ he saw the other boy, the one who was always after Tyler… Husk, was his name, he thought. He was to his other side holding his hand as well.

‘’From the grave’’ two hands came from under and took Tyler by the ankles down into a black void.

He fell and on the background he saw a fire engulfing house. How did ya find me how did ya find me? What are you looking for, are you looking for.’’ 

Then he was at a graveyard, a bunch of people surrounding a grave, he could see the students that got kidnapped and he saw the two irregulars at the center of it all. ‘How did ya find me how did ya find me? Up in the shadows, picking up my load’’ they muttered as the grave shattered in two parts.

‘’I see you under western skies. Behind your eyes. I can escape. From the grave’’ he saw Tyler coming out from shadows that were trying to grab him, lifting up his wand and towards the same smiling shadow he saw sitting on the throne before.

At last he saw the stage on the forest next to the school filled with people ‘’How did ya find me how did ya find me?’’ he again saw people he did not recognized. A boy with dark hair and a brown hat next to another… girl? Wearing the boy’s uniform. 

‘’What are you looking for, are you looking for’’ he saw another white haired boy but with black eyes this time and a scar on his throat next to a boy with brown hair and a red shirt under the open buttons of his uniform.

’’ How did ya find me how did ya find me? ‘’He saw two blonde girls, one with her hair in pig tails and the other with her long wavy hair falling behind her. 

‘’Up in the shadows, what are you looking for’ ’he saw the white haired boy with blue eyes next to a girl with pink hair and her eyes covered on bandages.

’’How did ya find me how did ya find me?’’ appeared Tyler again trying to touch his face but as soon as his fingers graced his skin…

…Christopher woke up.  
He sighed for a bit and sat on his bed, he yawned and tried to shake away the strange feeling that dream left on him. He saw next to him the device that Tyler lent him a couple months ago just before vacation.

He heard a bit of music still coming out from the device and he turned it off. It was probably that what caused that dream… no… no, he knew what it was, another premonition.  
He sighed annoyed as he heard a light knock on the door. ‘’Come in’’ he said and the door opened and an old man with a mustache on his face and a kind but professional smile came in. ‘’Good morning, Prince Christopher’’ he bowed to him. ‘’Did you have a good night of sleep?’’ he asked lifting his gaze.

Christopher rolled his eyes. ‘’No’’ he said simply and got up from bed going to his closet to search for clothes.

‘’Let me do that for you’’ the man said coming closer and reaching a hand but Christopher raised a hand quietly. ‘’I can pick my own clothes, thanks’’ he said. The man nodded. ‘’Your bath is ready, and you can dress and come downstairs. Breakfast shall be served in an hour’’ the man said checking his pocket clock.

Christopher only groaned and went towards a green door at the other side of the room where indeed his bath was ready. He closed and locked the door and went towards the other door that lead to the hallway where the servants should come every day to clean and ready his morning bath.

He got undressed and stared at himself on the mirror. Still not enough definition on his body, he should train a bit more’ he thought and he walked towards the sunken bathtub and he walked down the stairs of the large bath with black tiles that made the water look black and dark. He sank on the water and sighed.

He lowered his head and came underwater and he let out all the air he had on his lungs and held there for a second.

The whole world seemed to disappear for just a second when he did that, he didn’t had to worry about anything for a moment and in just a split of a second he relaxed before coming back up for air.

‘’Jackson?’’ he asked and the voice of the man came from the other side of the door. ‘’Yes?’’ he asked calmly. ‘’I had another dream…’’ he told him and there was a low hum at the other side of the door. ‘’Would you like me to prepare the tarot cards?’’ he asked and Christopher groaned a bit. ‘’No, it’s probably nothing important anyways’’ he said and again another low hum came from the other side of the door. Jackson did that when he thought about something.  
‘’My prince, the art of divination is an art that is both admired and envied all among the world, the fact that you possess one of the rarest one… the one of prophetic dreams and do not wish to learn how to use it is… deeply saddening’’ he said.

Christopher almost laughed, he liked whenever Jackson would voice his own opinions because he would always try to make it seem professional and try not to speak out of place but it was obvious that he wanted Christopher to learn how to use his powers.

‘’Divination, I never asked for that power. I have no need of it if I know where the path ahead of me lies. I told you I was going to be the very best in this world and I’m planning to do it without the aid of a power like that’’ Christopher said while washing his hair.

‘’I understand, my prince. But think about it. That power is something unique among your family… if you use it then it would be your own power, your own ways and it might warn you of the enemies and things to come, not to aid easy the path that you want but to warn you about what might lie ahead’’ the butler said.

Christopher hoped he would say something like that.

The only reason he kept Jackson so close to him through these years was because he was the only servant that would speak his mind when they were alone, the only one who understood his ambition and the only one who swore would help him in whatever he could to reach his goals.

‘’Fine’’ he said with feign annoyance. ‘’Bring them’’ he ordered. A few seconds later a deck of tarot cards appeared floating next to him and Christopher got ready to do a reading still in the bathtub.

.

 

After a no much productive reading Christopher got ready to get dressed. He made a mental note to pay a little bit more attention on divination class this year as he got dressed.

As soon as he started to put on his clothes he sighed angrily. The clothes he chose before were replaced magically with new ones. ‘’Jackson!’’ he shouted to the man at the other side of the door. ‘’My apologies, my prince. But you have a greeting after breakfast, these clothes are more fit for that’’ he said giggling a bit which annoyed Christopher even more.

Instead of dressing on a simple dress shirt with black jeans now he was wearing a black dress shirt with golden drawing sewn into the fabric with an equally golden and black tie with black dress pants and black shoes.

He came out of the bathroom and immediately his hair got attacked by floating products and combs and was slicked backwards and secured with a spray of some weird product that was the only thing that kept his unruly black hair into place. 

He looked to the door and saw Jackson smirking at him pointing his wand at the combs and hair products. ‘’Jackson…’’ he groaned and the man bowed. ‘’My apologies, but I knew you wouldn’t be taking care of your hair if I did not did it myself’’ he giggled again. Christopher took the deck of tarot cards he was carrying from the bathroom and threw them on his face.

‘’Whatever! Just… let’s finish this’’ he said stomping out of the room.

They walked, Christopher on the front and Jackson close behind him with his face straight as a statue. They walked several long hallways and stairways until they reached a large black door with several magic symbols and they opened by themselves.

Inside there was a big room with large square windows, the room that lacked of any furniture except for the large table in the middle of the room was being occupied only by an older man sitting at the end of the table and a maid next to him serving his food.

‘’Oh! Morning my dear grandson’’ the man said and both Jackson and Christopher bowed. ‘’My dearest king’’ Christopher said. ‘’My king’’ said Jackson. 

‘’Come, sit next to me, there is nobody here today, they all gone to whatever meeting they had on the realm today’’ the man said and Christopher obeyed and walked towards the chair next to him. Jackson pulled the chair and he sat down.

‘’You look very handsome today, my grandson’’ the old man said as he started to take a bite of fruit that was served on his plate. ‘’Thank you very much, my dearest king’ Christopher responded while Jackson served him. 

‘’Please, it is only us today, you can call me Grandpa Christian’’ the man smiled but Christopher only half grinned looking a bit insecure. ‘’Alright, perhaps Grandfather Christian, is better?’’ he asked and Christopher nodded.

‘’Sounds good, Grandfather Christian’’ he said and smiled a bit more. ‘’we have a greeting today, are you ready?’’ he asked and Christopher nodded eating a bit. ‘’Yes, I’m ready’’  
The man hummed for a second and grabbed Christopher’s hand for a second and stroked it. ‘’You are my proudest achievement. You know that, right?’’ he asked.

‘’I know’’ he said half smiling and his grandfather talked again. ‘’Are you still perusing that dream? Do you really want to be like your father that bad?’’ he asked.

Christopher denied with his head. ‘’I’m following after that dream because I will be better. I will lead this realm and will be the biggest star you’ve seen yet. You will see’’ he looked at the king with determination and the king smiled.

‘’Remember, as long as our line is strong so shall we be’’ the king said and resumed his breakfast.

That made Christopher’s face fall a little but he kept eating.  
And Jackson knew there was something wrong in there… a few nights ago he confirmed his suspicions.

The prince had fell in love with another boy, and of course there was nothing wrong with that on magical law or on their society. But there was enough pressure on the prince to find a suitable girl in the future so they could procreate a family and keep the royal line strong.

Jackson only learned of the prince’s affections when he came into the room unannounced as he thought there was no one home and saw the prince looking at a crystal ball staring longingly at a boy.

Of course the prince denied it, he denied it furiously saying he was nothing but a nuisance he met at school and he was nothing but a lowly irregular and that made Jackson worry deeply.

Not for keeping the line strong but he was worried about the prince. In the years working for him he learned to care deeply for the boy and now that he saw him looking at a person that everyone told him he should not have, he could not have, it was both worrying and painful for him to see him like that.

But Jackson would stay by his side no matter what. That’s what he told himself and he would keep his word, he would keep the promise he made to the queen before she passed away on the riots two years ago.

They finished their food and then got up. It was time for the greeting.

The king walked to his grandson and offered a hand, the boy took it with grace and walked next to the king towards one of the square windows that opened up to reveal a large balcony.

They walked to the balcony and they were greeted by the cheers, screams and whistles of the people.

Outside their palace there was the whole town or the whole realm it seems. They have been waiting patiently for perhaps hours just to get a glimpse on the king who gracefully waved at them.

They were blessed to see the prince next to the king today smiling and waving at them with a kind stare, they cheered at their leaders as they said hello for several minutes and went back to the palace.

As soon as the window closed Christopher sighed and stared at the king who was walking towards the door. ‘’Alright, later today we have lunch with the duchess of Pumpkin Zone and then a dinner with the witches of the West Heavens, please be ready’’ the king said and Christopher bowed at him as he was leaving. ’’Certainly, Grandfather’’ he said as the king left with the maid who bowed and walked behind him.

As soon as he left he let out a breath. ‘’Fuck’’ he said making Jackson giggle a bit again. ‘’Shall we go? You did said that you wanted to look for your school supplies today’’ Jackson asked and Christopher nodded.

The prince of the land of Crystalia walked with his butler close behind and for a moment he wished he was somewhere else without all the heavy atmosphere all of his people and all of this realm brought him.

.

It was pretty late in the morning in the mortal world when Tyler opened his eyes, he heard the soft sound of a stream of water coming out from the tent and he lazily got up from his sleeping bag. He looked around and his parents weren’t there and that’s when the smell of bacon hit him.  
He quickly got up… well almost got up, first he tripped on his own feet and when he manage to get up and put on his shoes he got out of the tent to be greeted by the smiling faces of his parents saying good morning.

He greeted back smiling.

The family of three were on the forest at the mountain near the place where, in the meta-world was Alex’s home. They decided to go camping for the weekend just before Tyler was going back to school.

‘’That smells amazing!’’ Tyler said getting close to the fire his parents made where they were cooking bacon for breakfast.

They used to take trips like these all the time when Tyler was smaller but they stopped when they got too busy with work and school. Tyler missed them and after the attack a couple months ago it seemed like his parents decided that they wanted to keep closer as a family and treasure the good moments.

The attack to the school left a mark on them. They were scared about his son going back to school but they also knew they couldn’t stop his education, especially since he needed to learn how to control his magic.

So they knew they couldn’t stop him from coming back and learn how to be a proper witch but they could spend as much time as they could with him making new memories so they decided to go on this trip.

‘’Go wash your hands now’’ his father instructed. Tyler went to the stream of water near the tent and washed his hands before going to sit on a log next to the fire.

His father handed him a paper plate and his mother came close with the frying pan. ‘’Alright, bacon and eggs for my two special men’’ she said serving them both and then put some on her plate before putting everything away on a rock near and sat next to them. They started to eat and a whistling sound indicated that the pot near the fire was ready to serve the coffee.  
They grabbed cups and served the coffee and talked for a bit.

‘’…So! After that I told Johnson that if he wanted the reports he could make it himself’’ his father complained a bit. ‘’And? What did he said?’’ Tyler asked interested. ‘’Well you see, he is one of those, my way or no other way, kind of person but when he was about to burst the boss walked in and he had to implode and walked away’’ he grinned. 

Tyler’s mom laughed a bit. But then she got serious. ‘’You shouldn’t make enemies at work, try to do it peacefully’’ she said and his father huffed with a half-smile on his face. ‘’says the lawyer!’’ he teased and she laughed. ‘’Well that’s my job! To fight with people!’’ she smiled.

Tyler smiled as well. His mom left work a year ago when a specially complicated case got to her. She ended up losing a case and her client decided to end his life after that. He left his mother a letter stating that she was one of the reasons he decided to end it all.

The man survived but was admitted to a hospital and his mom decided to take a leave from work for an undefined span of time.

She only came back to work recently and she seemed pretty happy with it. Tyler was happy as well, it has been a while since he saw her happily going to work every morning and coming back with a smile on her face whenever she won a case.

After a while his father finally looked at his watch and decided it was time to leave. ‘’I will take down the tent’’ he said and Tyler’s mom started to clean around. 

Tyler summoned his wand and pointed it to the fire. He sighed and closed his eyes. ‘’Aqua’’ he said and water came out from the tip of the wand, shooting a small stream of clear water that put out the fire.

He jumped happily and took out a piece of paper from his pocket and he saw the last spell on the list got crossed with a line by itself.

He smiled, he, as well as the other students, received a permission to practice spells as their homework at home. He practiced potions, reading runes, practicing with gypsy stones and learning each names on the tarot cards of his deck.

He even had to work on his black magic homework and learn how to curse someone using his spit. He didn’t want to do it but Husky offered himself as subject of this practice when he mentioned it and Tyler practiced a lot until he managed to give Husky a headache just by mentioning his name and spitting to the ground.

He immediately lifted the curse with the spell he learned as his ‘curses and how to break them’ homework and apologized like a million times but Husky assured him those same million times that it was all okay.  
They packed everything into the car and got inside, Tyler’s dad put on the radio and he looked from the window on the back seat at the several trees and plants they were passing by.  
He smiled, this was truly one of his best weeks. He remembered his parents waking him up early on January 10th. Huge birthday cake on his father’s arms. His mother singing and throwing confetti all around and Husky just shouting ‘happy birthday´ with his father’s guitar on hands while playing almost perfectly every note as he finally confirmed Tyler’s suspicions that he was practicing some music.

An then the festivities lasted the whole week, Lucia came over for a barbeque that turned into a sleepover with a call over the CIM with the Luciferus cousins and Alex who was traveling over Russia with his father and uncle.

Tyler received gifts from then and they apologize over the CIM. He got a book on the legends of the Ceiba tree from Winn, a new pocket broom from Winnifred that she herself created with her spells, several packages of candy with all the flavors the Guzman farm could harvest from Alex and Lucia made him a colorful scarf with all the colors of the rainbow that he wore immediately even when it wasn’t as cold that day.

Then from Husky he got a small silver necklace that he put around his neck resting on top of the scarf and the next day Rory came over apologizing for not being able to be there the day before and brought a box that had some new black boots that he would be able to wear on his lessons.  
From his parents he received some new videogames and the special edition comics of Princess Detective Murder Mystery. He was happy for that because those were presents that formed part of his more… non-magical self that he enjoyed as much as his magical self.

Then the next day he got a call from Husky to get ready because his parents were taking him to dinner.

He got super nervous because Husky’s parents had this tendency to take him to extremely fancy places where he would get so self-conscious over what to wear or what to eat but he ended up getting dressed as fancy as he could which was a long sleeved, bottom up shirt with black pants and black shoes and his hair slicked with all the gel his mother would allow him to use. He ended the outfit with the necklace Husky gave him.

He got anxious when Husky entered the home to picked him up and stared at him for a good five seconds before coughing muttering that he looked great and they went with Husky’s parents to this beautiful restaurant near the sea called ‘Lovesters’ and Husky’s parents rented up a private room where they could eat all together without the rest of the customer’s looking at them. Tyler was glad he could eat without so many people around and he devoured an entire lobster with Husky while joking around with Talia and Thaddeus about whatever it could come to their minds.

The very next day his parents announced their camping trip and Tyler went over with them to buy all what it was needed and the next day after that they went camping.

Now entering the first parts of Seagull City, Tyler heard a noise on his backpack and upon checking he saw he had a text from Husky, he smiled and responded quickly as the car pulled on a traffic light.

Then he heard a noise of something taping the window of the car and he gasped when he saw Coco the falcon tapping at the car’s window with his their peak with a note on its talons.  
‘’Coco!’’ Tyler said and quickly opened the window to let the familiar in but the responsible Falcon only delivered the note and went flying away.

‘’What was that?’’ His father asked looking at the falcon flying away and suddenly disappearing as it crossed over the realms

‘’Sorry, dad’ he apologized. ‘’It was Alex’s familiar’’ he said as a light came out of his chest and little Nox came out of the light yawing looking a little annoyed. ‘’Sorry, Nox. I know you don’t like being inside all the time but we couldn´t leave you alone at the house’’ he smiled at the cat who rolled his eyes.

‘’Alright, but that falcon should be more careful, what if someone were to see it?’’ His mom said and Tyler had to agree to that. He made a mental note to tell that to Alex as he opened the letter that Coco gave him.

He quickly read the letter and gulped, his face got all red and his hands trembled a little. He suddenly looked at his parents and asked. ‘’Mom, Dad, is it okay if I go to buy my supplies with Alex today?’

‘’Oh, sweetheart, but we wanted to have a good lunch together and then Rory was going to pick you up to buy them with you’’ his mother said.

‘’Yeah, and after what happened I don’t know if I would be comfortable with you two boys walking in the meta-world by yourselves’’ his dad said as well.

‘’But his uncle will be with us, look’’ Tyler passed the letter to his mom ‘’Oh, but don’t read it out lo-‘’ but before he could finish his mom was already reading.

‘’Dear Tyler’’ she began. ‘’Oh no…’’ Tyler whispered while he sank on his seat all flustered’’  
‘’How are you, man, I missed you so much, so damn much! Our trip was amazing and I brought you a gift that I would like to give you today if you want to! I’m dying to meet you and Lucia soon, so I was thinking that maybe we could go to buy our school supplies today? We can meet by the piers on the meta-world and walk from there to the market, my uncle will be with us so there shouldn’t be any problems. So what do you say, go on a date with me yes or yes?’’ she read out loud with a cheery voice and she smiled widely at the end.

Tyler heard his father let out a small chuckle and as they pulled on their driveway and turned off the car he finally agreed. ‘’Alright, we will tell Rory that you went with your friend and to meet you at the market later. But please be here before dinner, alright?’’ 

Tyler jumped from his seat directly to hug them and said thank you a million times before getting out of the car and bolting to the door.

But then he stopped and turned around to walk to the trunk of the car to help his parents take all the camping gear out a thing that they smiled at and were thankful for as well.

Soon they were done and Tyler went to his room to write a quick note and send it with Nox who looked pretty annoyed to be waken up from another nap but also look glad to be out and running once again. In a second the spider—cat was gone and Tyler ran to take a shower.

Once he got out he looked at his phone to see a couple of texts from Husky and one from Lucia. He responded to Lucia telling her that they would meet at the piers later and he read Husky’s texts.

He was asking if he was back and if he wanted to hang out but Tyler had to turn him down telling him about his plans with his friends.

‘Then let me walk you up to the piers’ Husky texted at which Tyler responded a quick ‘Ok, come over then’ and got dressed.

A few minutes later, Husky was knocking on the door and Tyler let him in.  
Husky quickly hugged him lifting him from the ground. ‘’Gosh! Husky, I swear every time I see you, you get bigger!’’ Tyler laughed.

‘’Don’t exaggerate, it’s only been a couple of days’’ Husky responded and let his friend on the ground.

And Husky really was taller, and he was filling up his shirt a bit more, Tyler guessed it was all his time training with his team over vacation that made him look so big already and Tyler would dare to say even more handsome than before.

But he pushed some of those thoughts away and paid attention to what Husky was saying. ‘’So, are you ready to go?’’ he asked offering his hand like a gentleman leading his partner away. Tyler chuckled and yelled from the door to the kitchen where his parents were. ‘’I’m leaving!’’ he said and his parents said goodbyes from the kitchen.

Tyler took Husky’s arm and they both walked out of the door with him. He let go of his arm and punched him playfully on the arm initiating a chase out on the streets.

‘’You really think you can run away?!’’ Husky yelled from behind. ‘’I will try my best, surely!’’ Tyler laughed trying to run as fast as he could, he quickly ran on the street downhill and came across the small park where he first told Husky about his powers.

He ran inside trying to run for the nearby trees to hide but Husky proved once again to be the fastest of them both and grabbed him by the waist and started to spin him around again. 

‘’Alright, I give up, you win, you win’’ Tyler laughed as Husky started to tickle him a bit around his ribs.

Husky let go and they both smiled at each other for a bit. ‘’I can’t believe you have to go back in a couple of days again’’ Husky sighed, still smiling but with a bit of sadness on his eyes.

‘’It’ll be like before, right! We will text each other every day and write on our parchments and even talk on the CIM with the rest of the guys. Nothing is going to change, I will still come home every day after school and will see you’’ Tyler wrapped his arm around Husky’s shoulders, which was kind of awkward since he was taller than him but Husky managed to smile more honestly then.

They finally reached the piers and Tyler hugged Husky goodbye and walked to an empty alleyway where he crossed to the meta-world.

The purple-bluish sky of the meta-world greeted him immediately and he came out of the alleyway just barely distracted by the people in long gowns and robes walking up and down, he looked at himself on his own mortal clothes and felt a bit out of place but he brushed those feelings away when he saw Alex waiting on a bench at the other side of the street.

Tyler swallowed hard, the sight of the boy still managed to make him nervous and he looked even better after his trip. His skin was a little bit tanner and that made his freckles even more visible. And even if he should be wearing a magical attire like the rest of the people he was just wearing a plain old-looking plaid shirt and some overalls. His boots did had some symbols and magical scripture on them and as always he had his old straw hat and a piece of candy straw on his mouth.

He spotted Tyler and quickly got up and smiled broadly and Tyler almost ran towards him but then he got ambushed by a pair of arms wrapping around his neck.

‘’Tyler!’’ Lucia yelled on his ear and laughed when Tyler jumped. ‘’Lucia! Come on, dude!’’ Tyler covered his ear but laughed with her as well.

She walked back with a small jump on her step, Tyler took a look on her and she looked as cute as ever. She looked like a modern witch, black strapless dress with black ankle boots and a small black hat on her long blonde hair.

‘’It’s so good to see you’’ she said. ‘’Yeah, you too’’ said Tyler as he heard a chuckle next to him. ‘’What, don’t I get a hug as well?’’ He heard an almost whisper on his ear and he jumped again to see Alex laughing out loud.

‘’Not you too!’’ Tyler said all flustered. Lucia ran to Alex’s arms and lifted him up on a bear hug. ‘’That kind of hug, you punk?’’ she asked grinning while Alex looked out of air. ‘’I give up, I give up!’’ he yelled and Lucia let him down.

‘’You are such a savage!’’ Alex complained half-jokingly then he quickly walked towards Tyler and hugged him tenderly taking him into his arms. ‘’Can’t you do it more like this?!’’ he complained again while Tyler was sure that he was going to die on Alex’s arms.

‘’Enough already, Tyler said breaking free of the embrace, he felt like he was dying and he wanted to take a couple of breaths.

He then saw a hand with a leather glove in front of him and he looked up and saw a man smiling at him. ‘’Are you alright, kid?’’ he asked and Tyler quickly recognized him.

With his ashy blonde hair slicked back and his black suit, he recognized him as Alex’s uncle. Tyler didn’t took his hand but got stepped back quickly. ‘’I’m fine!’’ he said a little bit wary.

Tyler was very wary of Alex’s uncle, last time he saw him he took a particular interest on his practice wand and Tyler knew that it was because the wand looked similar to Elizabeth’s wand. The evil witch Elizabeth the Twisted. 

Alex quickly came in front of him. ‘’Come on, you said that you were leaving us as soon as my friends get here’’ he complained at which the man only chuckled. 

‘’Of course, but first I need to know my little nephew’s friends names, and of course there is that… other matter as well’’ the man said looking at Tyler directly making him avoid his gaze.

Alex clicked his tongue. ‘’Fine! These are my friends, Lucia and Tyler, guys this is my uncle Alco’’ he said and they both waved a bit, Tyler still trying to avoid his gaze but he still saw the man wave at them.

‘’Perfect! And the other matter, please?’’ the man smiled kindly but there was something on his face… or maybe on his aura that was saying that the man was not being nice or patient.  
Alex looked away for a second and then turned to look at Tyler. ‘’Show him your wand’’ he asked almost embarrassed. 

‘’I beg your pardon?’’ Tyler asked immediately. 

‘’He said that he would leave us alone to shop today if you could show him the wand that came from the Ceiba tree’’ Alex responded.

‘’I won’t touch it, I promise, I’m just curious to know what kind of carvings the tree made’’ the man said putting his hands on his back like he was promising not to touch it.

Tyler didn’t wanted to show him the wand that the Ceiba tree had made for him but he was also afraid the man said they would all go together to do the shopping then, and he definitely didn’t want that.

Tyler summoned his wand with a snap of his fingers and held it by the tip to show him the carvings on the handle that the tree made. The man leaned forward but did not moved his hands as he observed the work.

‘’Interesting, a long forgotten language. It will take me weeks to find the right book to look for those’’ the man said and when Tyler knew he had enough he hid his wand away.

The man chuckled again but this time he looked calmer. ‘’Alright, a promise is a promise. You guys be good and take care of my nephew, alright? He said and in a second he poofed himself out of place.

Tyler sighed a breath he didn’t know he was holding as did Lucia. ‘’Man, I really don’t like your uncle’’ Lucia said and quickly covered her mouth but Alex only laughed. ‘’Yeah, me neither, but whatever, let’s go, we have a lot to shop today!’’ he said grabbing both of his friends and ran with them to the marketplace.

The marketplace was exactly as Tyler remembered the first time he visited it. It was filled with stands with candles, cards, pumpkins, strange fruits and animals. Weird kinds of meats with colors that he didn’t knew belonged to any meat he knew and witches, wizards, sorcerers and such running up and down buying things.

‘’Alright, so we need a few books’’ Said Lucia taking out a schedule out of her pocket pack ‘’Dark magic 02, 123 secrets from cursing your enemies to summoning demons’’ she said and made a sour face. ‘’Damn, I guess Mrs. Black will be having fun with us this year’’ she said a little bit somber.

Tyler also looked a little bit somber, he remembered how though Mrs. Black was last year and he was not looking forward to seeing her again.

‘’The art of defensive mechanisms against particularly evil beings’’ recited Alex also looking at his schedule. ‘’Yeah, it seems to me like Professor Wick will also have fun this year’’ he mentioned and that made them more somber.

For some reason both Mrs. Black and Professor Wick were thought on the three of them, even though Professor Wick seemed to calm down when he saw the talent on defensive spells that they had, Tyler still couldn’t say that he liked him.

‘’More beasts to count, the second part’’ mentioned Lucia, smiling widely. The class on magical beasts was given by the headmaster himself and they all enjoyed the class.

‘’Then we have, ten thousand herbs that might save your life’’ Alex read out loud. ‘’The way curses break and for the last one we have ‘’How to transform oneself, a guide on animal transformation’’ he said and grinned. ‘’That would mean that we might turn into animals this year!’’ he said excitedly.

Tyler looked at the list and jumped up and down ‘’that is about the most exciting thing I’ve read today! Let’s go get it!’’ he smiled widely making his friends laugh a bit.

‘’alright, then let’s get to it!’’ Lucia smiled, they all went to the market center to start and look for things.

They entered several stores with books and potions, they started to gather things, paying for them and squish them on their pocket packs. Lucia soon looked at her wallet and sighed a bit. Tyler noticed this and came next to her. ‘’Everything alright?’’ he asked. 

Lucia took him to the side a bit while Alex was distracted looking at some talking rocks on a shelf. ‘’Well, mom did gave me some money but the transference from human money to magical money… or gold, it’s not so… good’’ she said and showed him a small money bag from her pocket pack that had… only two golden coins. ‘’I think this might be enough to buy the rest of the books…but...’’

Tyler looked down a bit, he knew that Lucia wanted to buy more things, he remembers that she told her before how excited she was that they might be able to take their tryout for the FrozenCoul this year and she had been practicing several icing spells now that she had her real wand, but they also needed to buy gear to protect themselves along with skates to be able to go around the ice.

‘’… when was your birthday again?’’ Tyler asked, he didn’t remember celebrating her birthday last year. ‘’It’s until the golden week… we usually celebrate it alone with my mother’’ she said looking away a bit. ‘’I just don’t like to make a big deal out of it’’ she said.

‘’Wait, so when we all went together to have fun during that week… it was your birthday?’’ Tyler asked and she looked away a bit. ‘’Yeah… sorry I just… don’t like to talk about it too much… but why all of this interest?’’ she asked looking a bit red on the face.

‘’I don’t want to try out for the team’’ Tyler said, ‘’I think that it’s too dangerous, and I might have no time with the choir and other stuff so I guess that all the money I have for equipment might be lost or I will use it for candy’’  
‘’Tyler, what are you saying?’’ she asked puzzled.

‘’I’m saying that, let me buy the gear for you, as a past birthday present and as a future birthday present-‘’ He started but was cut off by her hand on his mouth ‘’No, Ty, really it’s okay, I don’t need to try for the team this year, I can save up my money and try next year, so really there is no trouble’’ she said smiling sadly…

‘’But I want to see you try! I know you would be great, you’ve been practicing with those spells all vacation, you almost freeze your whole block, I know you are good, please let me’’ he begged.

Lucia started to shake her head in denial but then a bag got dropped heavily between the two. They looked and it was Alex smiling broadly. ‘’Hey guys! While you were talking in secret but loudly over there I bought some gear for Lucia’’ he smiled and Lucia quickly looked at him in disbelief. ‘’And no! there are no get backs, take it as a present so now Tyler has to look for a late and future birthday present to give you on your actual day’’

Lucia hugged him quickly making Alex laugh a bit a get a bit red on the face. ‘’I will repay you on your birthday!’’ she said inflating her cheeks in half annoyance half thankful way. ‘’Well my birthday is on December so any Christmas present should be sufficient’’ he smiled.

‘’Well now that this is settled, let us go onto the last store!’’ Tyler clapped his hands happily as they walked out of the store they were and onto the streets.

The trio walked through the streets laughing and joking a bit until a sight made them stop.  
It was a pot of land with some burnt old looking rubble on it… Tyler didn’t had to think too much to realize this pot of burnt land was all that was left from the wand shop. 

Mr. Gregorio Vance, the man who used to own this shop was also the man who betrayed them and the whole magical community by letting the evil irregulars enter the school last year and kidnap almost all of the irregular students.

Lucia grabbed him gently by the hand. ‘’Let’s go’’ she whispered and they walked away.

The pain was still there, the pain of betrayal, the pain of feeling useless as the evil doers took their classmates… some of them even friends and the pain that they might be suffering.

‘’Mr. Rogers?!’’ asked Lucia surprised looking in front. They saw the tall and nice looking blonde man smiling at them while he exited a shop. ‘’Hello their children!’’ he smiled cheerfully. ‘’Buying your supplies?’’ he asked and they nodded.

‘’What are you doing here? I thought you were only allowed to certain parts of the magical world, as a mortal and such’’ Alex asked.

Mortals, or humans without magic, were forbidden to cross the barrier that separated the magical and the regular world. There were a few exceptions to the rule of course, mortals that had in the past helped magicals in extraordinary ways and had helped the senate in service and devotion had the permission to enter the meta-world, with limitations of the places they could visit, of course. And their P.E. teacher, Mr. Roy Rogers was one of them. They didn’t know what he did to help in the past but they knew that he was able to enter the school grounds and teach them physical education.

‘’Oh well, I had to gather some supplies as well and I asked for permission to do it right here, as well as to research some things about the magicals’’ he smiled broadly and looked around as to see if they were being heard and then leaned forward to whisper to the trio. ‘’You see, thanks to a certain wish a certain special someone made I have a new class to teach this year’’ he said with his eyes shining in proudness.

Tyler grinned ‘’It will be you? You will be teaching us?’’ he said making the man nod. ‘’But it will be made official on the entrance ceremony, so keep it quiet’’ he said and looked at his watch. ‘’Oh, I guess it is time for me to go, I have a very important meeting soon, see you soon, guys’’ he said and they all waved away.

‘’Wait, I’m confused, you finally made that wish the senate owed you?’’ Alex asked making Tyler nod. ‘’Yes! I wished for the magical children to be taught a mortal-sensibility class! That way everyone can learn of mortal customs and maybe that way they can realize that magicals and mortals are not so different’’ he said.

‘’I believe that is a great idea! Just imagine how funny it will be when they learn what a cellphone does!’’ Lucia laughed.

Alex rolled his eyes ‘’Great! And I thought that only Winn would ask for a class to be added into our curriculum as a wish’’ he joked and pushed Tyler playfully on the shoulder. Tyler laughed back, ‘’Yes! And you better listen carefully if you don’t want to know what rubber duck is!’’ Tyler teased.

‘’Is that a monster?’’ asked Alex and they both nodded. ‘’It definitely is!’’ Lucia said feigning innocence.  
.  
As soon as they entered the last shop to look for some ingredients for medicines they might create this year, Tyler slammed himself face first into the back of a person. A person he definitely didn’t want to see at least until he was at school.

‘’Ugh! Gross I think it touched me!’’ the person said and took of his cape to inspect for stains. ‘’Good, I guess I won’t have to burn it’’ he said.

‘’Give it a rest, Christopher!’’ Alex said getting in between them.

‘’Oh! Farm boy is here along with the blonde monster, how perfect’’ Christopher rolled his eyes.  
‘’Damn, a whole vacation period but you are still a piece of shit’’ Lucia said looking at her nails.

‘’Guys! Let’s all give it a rest, okay?’’ Tyler said looking at his friends and then at Christopher.

The boy looked as annoyed to see him as ever… but damn if Tyler didn’t thought he looked great. Wearing that entirely black button up shirt with silver embroideries all over and a black cape around his shoulders making contrast with his black hair and piercing blue eyes.

‘’Good to see you Christopher, had a good vacation?’’ he tried knowing very well what the answer would be.

‘’Just fuck off, Suarez’’ he said. A laugh came from the side and Tyler almost felt his eye twitch when he saw Pamela coming from a row of shelves. The girl also looked beautiful, she had a new haircut with hair coming on her shoulders and green robes that looked as expensive as the whole store.

‘’Well look at all of us! Being nice to each other and stuff! But really guys, fuck off, me and this idiot have more important things to do than to deal with low class worms’’ she smiled nicely and grabbed Christopher by the arm to walk out of the store.

‘’I swear to Odin! I don’t know which one I dislike the most’’ Lucia groaned.

For some reason Tyler still thought that Pamela was not the kind of person they all believed to be, now for Christopher, he thought that he needed to be thought some manners… soon.

And it seemed like the whole world didn’t want him to buy his last ingredients because as soon as he turn to look into the store he got faced with the annoyed stare of Rory Bennett.

As usual, Rory was dressed in an all green outfit, bright green with his blue hair in a braid falling on his shoulder and he looked super annoyed at the children right now. ‘’Really? Alone?’’ he asked and they all considered running away.

‘’H-hey, Rory!’’ Lucia tried. ‘’Don’t you ‘Hey Rory’ me! Wait until I tell your parents that you broke the promise you made of not buying things by yourselves! And where is this uncle Alex promised will be here with you?’’ he asked crossing his arms.

‘’He… went away?’’ Alex tried making Rory rub his eyes with his fingertips.  
‘’You will be the death of me, all of you’’ he said. ‘’Let’s buy those last ingredients and get home’’ he said and they all walked with their sight down.

Tyler started to look for the ingredients on some shelves when Rory came next to him also looking for some. Tyler looked up at him and smiled apologetically. ‘’I’m sorry we lied, Rory… it’s just that I really wanted to come here with them’’ he said.

Rory stopped for a second and smiled as well. ‘’I know, I understand, but you need to understand that the state of things right now is… dangerous. You children need to be careful, special you and Lucia’’ he then patted his head. ‘’Please promise me that you will behave this year, don’t let me worry too much about you guys… after the risks you took at the end of last year…’’  
Tyler grabbed his hand. ‘’I will be good, promise’’ he said.

They gathered the things and went to pay, Alex paid up in gold and Lucia was about to pay when Rory came and paid for her things. ‘’It’s what I do as your godfather’’ he smiled at her. ‘’Ty, now give me your card so I can pay for yours’’ he said and Tyler gave him his card.

The credit-debit-looking object that kept track on his bank account in real time was used to buy the things and then Rory gave it back. Tyler looked at the incredibly high number on the card, he still felt a little bit weird that his great grandfather had left him so much money so he could use.

He saw a couple of numbers come down from the purchase and then... he saw a couple more… then more and then more. ‘’Wait, Rory, how much did you paid for these ingredients?’’ He asked and Rory looked at the card which started to decrease in numbers quickly. ‘’What?! What is this?’’ he quickly took it and examined it. ‘’There are no hexes in this… kids we will have to go to the bank, right now’’ he said and started to walk out of the store.

‘’Luckily is only a street away and-‘’ then a loud noise was heard, a loud explosion rang through their ears and they hear people outside screaming.

‘’Get down!’’ Rory quickly said and they all sank on the ground.

They could hear people screaming and yelling out on the street. They were fearful and they heard the words. ‘The bank! Someone blow up the bank!’  
Rory quickly looked at them and grabbed the kids in his arms. ‘’We have to go’’ he said and in a moment the world turn itself into dust, their bodies were nothing they weighed nothing and the swirled around in several specks of dust and particles that they didn’t knew were at the core of their existence.

Then in a second they were in the mortal world. A couple of streets away from Tyler’s home.  
Tyler was on the ground, kneeling and dizzy. Lucia looked dazed and sick and Alex just looked mildly sick. ‘’I hate being puffed so suddenly’’ he said and looked at Rory who had his wand out and was looking all around.

‘’Get up kids, wands out, be very wary of your surroundings’’ he said and confused they took out their wands.

Night was almost upon them, they started to walk slowly. ‘’Tyler, I will take you home, place a protection spell and then take Lucia and Alex home, be careful, if you see anything weird use Obsidio’’ he said.

‘’Rory, what’s happening?’’ Lucia asked looking scared. 

‘’I don’t know my dear, but I will not take any chances that the thing happening at the bank was a coincidence’’ he said and led them through the deserted street.  
Tyler was scared, he felt his heart jumping on his chest, a ringing of the oddly quiet street on his ears and the cold sweat running on his back.

Rory was not saying it but Tyler knew that he believed that the explosion on the bank and all of this odd behavior taking them home could only mean that the evil irregulars were the ones behind it all.

Rory stopped them at a corner and looked around, he muttered some words and a small light dropped from his wand and ran through the street, after a second it came back and got inside the wand once more. ‘’…nothing. Let’s proceed carefully’’

Tyler knew that after this corner it was only a house until they reached their home, he was almost home he was almost safe.

Then the odd figure of his best friend looking at his house with a weird expression scared him more than the explosion in the bank.

‘’Husky?’’ Tyler asked as they walked towards him. Husky quickly broke off the weird stare he was giving the house and ran towards Tyler.

‘’Ty! You’re alright? What happened?’’ he asked and Tyler started to shake his head. ‘’I-I don’t know, wait why are you here?’’ he asked.

‘’I thought that I might wait for you at your house until you came back so I came to look for your parents to let me in but… I can’t get it’’ he said.

‘’what do you mean?’’ Lucia asked him. ‘’Are they not home? Is it locked?’’  
‘’No, I just can’t get inside… there is something wrong and I can’t walk up to the front door’’ he said and looked up at the house. ‘’and there is that smell’’ he said.

‘’A protection spell?’’ Rory looked with warning in his eyes at the house. ‘’Wait… smell? What smell?’’ he asked Husky.

‘’Like gas’’ Husky said.

And they didn’t had time to react or do anyting at all when the explosion destroyed the house, when the fire engulfed it all and send them flying away into the street.  
Before crashing to the ground Tyler could only see his home in flames.  
 


	2. Chapter 2. Welcome to Boarding School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HOLY HELL THAT TOOK TIME!  
> sorry guys work has been crazy and i barely have the time to get home and write, but this chapter is ready!  
> I have newcharacters to introduce and i did it all at once, hopefully it won't be confusing but I promise they all serve a purpose for this book.  
> NOW ONTO IT!

Chapter 2.  
Welcome to boarding school.

The smell was what woke him up. The smell of burnt wood and ashes that was flying through the air. Tyler opened his eyes, his head was throbbing and he felt a hot liquid running down the side of his head.

With difficulty he tried to get up but he could only lean on his hands as the whole world was spinning around him. He tried to look around and he saw Rory trying to sit down with pain written on his face, he saw Lucia and Alex both embracing each other suddenly getting up and then he saw Husky also opening his eyes and looking around.

He wondered what happened, it was only a second but he forgot about what happened and it was a glorious second because the moment he remembered he looked at the direction of his house… or rather, he looked at the direction where his home used to be and with horror he looked at the fire.

‘’No, no, no, no…’’ he muttered. ‘’No, no, no!’’ he tried to get up but stumbled again so he did it once more and he was finally able to stand up. His whole body was in pain but he ignored it as much as he could and tried to run towards the fire. ‘’no, no, no, this is…’’ ‘This is not happening’ he tried to say but his words were carried away by the hot air that was blowing around them.

‘’Mom! Dad!’’ he yelled finally regaining enough consciousness to dash towards the scene but his hand got grabbed by Rory who pulled him into him. ‘’Tyler, no!’’ he tried to pull the kid but Tyler tried to break free. ‘’Mom! Dad! No!’’ he yelled, tears down his face.

‘’Let me go, let me go Rory’’ he tried to run away but he got grabbed once more and this time Husky was by his side trying to stop him.

‘’Ty, stop, you can’t go there!’’ Husky tried to reason but Tyler was not having it, the tears down his face got bigger but he tried to think, think about what to do in this situation… ‘’Water! We need water, quick the wands!’’ Tyler tried his friends seemed to react to this and summoned their wands.

*CRASH*

In a moment then, a huge crashing sound came from the house and they saw the whole structure falling down. 

‘’Get back!’’ Rory yelled pulling Tyler and Husky backwards, Alex and Lucia both jumped back as the whole thing became just a pile of rubble catching fire.  
Tyler fell to his knees.

Inside his head he knew that if there were people inside the fire, now that the whole thing came crashing down, there was no way someone could be alive.  
He felt like the whole world was dark and painful, his body hurt, his lungs hurt from the smoke around them, why… why was this happening?  
They heard a car screeching behind them, and now noticed a crowd starting to form around them, on the distance they heard sirens approaching.

From the car came Husky’s parents. ‘’Boys!’’ they yelled and came towards both.

‘’Denny, oh my god!’’ his mom hugged him and quickly pulled Tyler. ‘’Tyler! My boy you are both alright’’ She sobbed a little.

‘’What in the world happened here?!’’ Husky’s dad asked looking at the fire. ‘’Where… where are…’’ he then looked at Tyler’s face. ‘’For all the heavens…’’ he whispered getting up from the embrace to look at the fire. ‘’How did this happened?’’ he asked to nobody in particular.

And nobody could answer.

The fire department arrived with the police.  
They killed the fire on the pile of rubble and they gave them oxygen. They gave their declarations that felt like a blur on Tyler’s mind and they were taken to the hospital to check for more injuries.

At some moment Lucia’s mother came and she hugged her while crying. Then came Alex’s dad looking as scared and worried as her.   
‘’Mom, we can’t leave him’’ Lucia begged her mom but Rory pulled them all to the side.

‘’This… I don’t want to think this is some sort of attack from the people who attacked the school on the last term. Lucia you need to go home, some officials from the senate are already there, ready to put on protection spells on the whole block, you will be safe there’’ he told the girl and patted her head a little bit, then he looked at Alex. ‘’Same for you, young man’’ he told him and Alex looked at him like he was crazy. ‘’You must’ve eaten some crazy thing if you think I will just leave him’’ he said with his face serious.  
‘’You will be safe at home, with your dad, I will keep Tyler safe until…’’ Rory looked away looking mortified.

‘’Until they find the bodies?’’ Lucia said on clenched teeth. ‘’Then what? Tyler will be gone? To an orphanage or something?’’ her face was now red and her eyes with small tears.  
‘’Don’t be dumb, Lucia! I will never let that happen! Besides the Husk family are appointed as their legal guardians if something…. If something like this were to happen’’ Rory said with a harsh whisper.

‘’They weren’t there’’ Husky said from behind, they turned and looked at him checking if they were being heard. Tyler was being checked by some doctors and Husky’s parents were with him. Husky looked at the rest and spoke on a low voice as well. ‘’They weren’t there, I couldn’t feel them or smell them, when you guys found me on the street I was standing there because I could not enter, for the smell of gas and for the fact that I could not smell Tyler’s parents’’ he said.

Alex looked at the ground and clenched his fists. ‘’The ward… or course’’ he said angry, his father squeezed his shoulder. ‘’Alex! Be respectful’’ 

Alex looked at his dad with the same expression he looked at Rory before. ‘’Why? He still hasn’t told Tyler that he is his ward, that he can sense and smell things, we heard him announcing he was a ward and saw him blasting a door open, he came to our homes at vacation begging us not to say anything and he will let Tyler know who he is himself, yet this shit happens and we are supposed to stay quiet? Now we know that his parents where not there but look at him…’’ Alex pointed at Tyler and they looked at his lost stare. ‘’He is dying thinking his parents are dead, and we are supposed to wait until the mortals declare they could not find any bodies when we know already?’’ he looked at them with anger. ‘’I can’t do that!’’ he said looking at his dad.

‘’My boy, I know is hard but this is not up to us, his ward has requested this from us, I know you are young but you don’t even know how much it takes for a ward to do this kind of thing’’ Alex’ dad said and looked at Husky. ‘’even so… I must say sorry for being rude right now but I believe my boy is right… the sooner you tell him, the sooner your pain will be over’’ he said.

Husky looked down. ‘’He shall stay with us and that is good for now, I will let you know all if we know something else, I promise’’ he then looked up at Alex. ‘’And as much as I hate to admit it… you are right, I will tell him but please…’’ he looked at Tyler quickly and then back at Alex. ‘’Don’t you think he had enough for one day?’’   
Alex sighed looking tired. He then nodded.

The group got close to Tyler and he looked up at them. ‘’Tyler, they are telling us that we need to leave’’ Lucia said with her voice breaking a bit. ‘’They will keep us safe and we will see you soon, I promise’’ she said and hugged him. Tyler hugged her back and took a deep breath.

Inside his head he knew that this was a direct attack from the evil irregulars, he knew this but his heart didn’t want to let her go… even then he knew that he needed her to be safe, he needed his best friend to be safe because if something were to happen to her like what happened to his…home, then he couldn’t take it. ‘’Go…’’ he said and tried to smile but came so forced that Lucia had to hug him again.

She broke apart and Alex came and grabbed his face. ‘’We will be in contact, I will not leave you alone, alright? I will never leave you alone’’ he said looking straight into his eyes, Tyler grabbed his hands and tried to force another smile. ‘’Go…’’ he said.

‘’We will take Lucia and her mother home and we will poof home immediately after’’ Alex’s father said and hugged Tyler. ‘’Be strong, boy’’ he said.

Soon they had to leave.

Sooner that Tyler would like.

And soon but not soon enough he was under the shower at Husky’s house.

He heard the firemen saying that they could not find anyone inside the burnt rubble that used to be his house, for one part he was relieved but another part of him knew that if there was nobody home then they had to be taken.

Taken like the students at the end of the term.

Tyler got out of the shower and started to dry off when he saw Nox looking up at him with a pitiful expression.

He got down and scratched him on the ears. ‘’It’s alright, they are alive, that’s something’’ he smiled a bit at the cat who meowed at him. ‘’I know, they will try to use them against me… but don’t worry, there is no way I will join them’’

‘they are alright’ said a voice in his head… not the voices he’d been hearing but the voice that kept telling him the names of spells last year, the voice that helped him cast spells in enochian, the voice that had been with him… that trusty voice told him that they are alright.

But then came the dark voices he’d been hearing they said… to harm them. ‘Cause them pain, once you find them you will cause them pain for the pain they had given you, hurt them, avenge your parents, your classmates… kill them…’ said the voice and the look Tyler gave himself in the reflection made him think that they can’t be wrong…for the most part.

He looked at himself on the mirror and the pain was being overcome by anger, ‘’I will kill them…’’ he declared on the mirror.  
.

Tyler came out of the bathroom to find Husky sitting outside the door, as soon as the door closed he was on his feet and to his side. Husky was quiet, uncharacteristically quiet, Tyler didn’t liked that very much so he tried his best to put on an honest smile for him.

If it was Husky of course he could put on a smile.

He smiled then and patted his head. ‘’I’m alright, they were not home, wherever they are they will be found’’ 

Husky grabbed his hand. ‘’Ty… do you trust me?’’ he asked. Tyler was a little taken back by the question but he nodded. ‘’Always’’ he responded.

Husky hugged him. Tyler hugged him back with worry. ‘’What’s wrong?’’ he asked. ‘’I couldn’t do anything… if I was there earlier maybe I could’ve done something… maybe your parents would be here’’ Husky whispered.

Tyler let out a small laugh and like Alex did before with him, he grabbed Husky’s face and looked straight into his eyes. ‘’You are not to blame, you are mortal, and if they had found you there they would’ve done something against you as well… I’m glad you weren’t there before’’ he gave another smile but Husky seemed even more down after it.  
Tyler was about to say something when their names got called by Husky’s parents.

They came into the kitchen where Talia gave them both a sandwich. ‘’Eat this and then to bed, tomorrow we will find out more’’ she said smiling. 

‘’I’m not hungry’’ Husky said but his dad just laughed. ‘’Nonsense, nothing good will come out of you not eating, eat, you need your strength’’ he gave them the food and slowly they ate together.  
Soon Tyler went to bed next to Husky who pretended to be asleep until he finally closed his eyes.

Husky stared at him when Tyler finally managed to sleep, it must’ve been around three AM and he looked so tired and broken, Husky wanted to kiss him and tell him what he was right there, to tell him that he was there to protect him but even himself was still coming to terms that he was not human.

Tyler’s words came to his mind. ‘You are mortal’ to Tyler that meant that he could’ve been hurt if he’d been back at the house with his parents but Husky knew he was not mortal, he knew that if he were to be there he would’ve done something.

He stroked his thumb on Tyler’s cheek. He was by far the only person who mattered for him. The rest of the world could burn if they wanted, for Husky there was nothing more important than Tyler.

And it was not because he was his ward, it was because it was him. He knew in his heart that his feelings were real.

Soon… he will tell him soon, about what he is and about his feelings.

Husky managed to sleep a couple hours when he woke up at dawn and heard voices outside his room.

He looked at Tyler still sleeping, he had a face of peace, like he was having no dreams whatsoever, he looked like he was resting so Husky decided to get up by himself and go to the source of the voices.

He got outside his room and around the corner he could hear a conversation on the living room.

‘’I hope you are not suggesting that we are going to let Tyler leave us!’’ His mother said with her voice exasperated.

‘’Madame, I understand that you are Tyler’s legal guardians in the mortal world-‘’ a man said but was cut off.

‘’And in any other world!’’ His father said with a stern voice.

‘’Yes Monsieur, but Tyler will be protected with us, all children will be protected. The island is now under the unbreakable protection of the whole senate thanks to Tyler’’ the man said.

‘’Yeah, but you were supposed to keep him safe and what did you do? You got tricked into leaving the school and got him hurt’’ his mother said once again. ‘’And you can stop with the titles, we are not royalty, we are wards’’ she added.

‘’Very well… Talia, I’m asking you as a friend, let Tyler stay at school as a boarding student’’ the man said and that did it for Husky, he got out of the corner he was hiding and came to the room.

‘’Boarding school?’’ he asked looking at the tall man with what it looked like ceremonial robes. ‘’ Why? ‘’ he asked. 

The man smiled. ‘’Oh, you must be Denny Husk, nice to meet you’’ the man bowed to him. ‘’My name is Marco Sanchez Diaz. I am the headmaster of Diaz’ School for Witchcraft’’ he said. ‘’I believe we met once before? At the infirmary? He added.

Husky looked at the man, he was the headmaster of Tyler’s school, he indeed saw him before but right now he had more pressing things in his place. ‘’Hi, um… what were you saying?’’ he asked looking more at his parents than him.

‘’You should be sleeping’’ his father sighed.

‘’Husky, it’s not proper to eavesdrop’’ his mother warned.

‘’But mom! He is talking about taking Tyler away, after all his been through, you really think is the best for him to go back to the place he was attacked in the first place?’’ Husky looked at the man. ‘’You can’t do that’’ he said.

‘’I understand your concerns, but Tyler will be safe with us, there is only so much you can do here’’ he said making his father gasp.

‘’I believe you are forgiving yourself, Mr. Headmaster’’ he said that last part with a bit of poison on his voice. ‘’We are the wards of the Suarez family, we are more than qualified to protect Tyler’’ he said getting up from his seat.

‘’No, you were the wards of Roberto and he is gone, you’ve since long ago lost your connection with him’’ the headmaster said and immediately Husky’s parents faces turned into a mixture of anger and sadness. ‘’There is only so much you can accomplish with Denny who is still yet to develop his powers’’ he then looked at Husky.

‘’I can take care of him’’ Husky growled a bit. ‘’My parents lost the connection with the Suarez family but I have one with Tyler, I’m meant to be by his side’’ he said.

‘’Understand that for now, you cannot… the people that Tyler angered are dangerous and unpredictable…’’ the headmaster sighed. ‘’I know your intentions are good but…’’  
Talia looked at him puzzled. ‘’but what? There is something that you are not telling us’’ she said.

‘’The mortal world is not safe for them… for any of our students’’ he then took out a paper out of his robes and showed them. ‘’Aside from this attack there has been some other sightings around the mortal world’’ he explained.

They saw at the paper and it was a piece of newspaper that announced several attacks around the cities of the country with fires on homes, on the streets, on hospitals and two orphanages.

‘’We have reasons to believe that the rioters that did this are living on the mortal world’’

‘’but Tyler will be safe, with us! In here!’’ Husky tried.

‘’And then? What will happen to his magic? To his powers? Will he be able to know how to control them here?’’ he asked Husky and not his parents and Husky looked down.   
Inside he knew that he was right, there was something that he could not do for Tyler and that was showing him how to use magic.

‘’Headmaster, you asked me as a fried before, but now it seems like you are here to tell us that this has been decided rather than ask for our permission’’ Talia said.

The headmaster looked at her and nodded. ‘’All students were to assist as boarding students this term, it’s an order from the senate… and as long as Tyler is one of our students and a member of our magical community, he will have to assist as a boarding student’’

‘’but…’’ Husky looked at his parents. ‘’But… there must be something, I can’t let him go…’’ Husky said. ‘’I’m… his friend’’ he said rather than ward.

At this the headmaster finally smiled. ‘’There it is… I’ve been waiting for a while that you would say those words, little one’’ he said.

‘’what do you mean?’’ Thaddeus asked. The headmaster grinned softly ‘’Tyler would need his ward in the future, but right now he needs his friend. He doesn’t need someone who would throw doors and destroy enemies, he needs his Husky, not his ward’’ he laughed a bit.

Husky looked down and blushed remembering the door he blasted open at the school. The headmaster chuckled again. ‘’its fine, the door is repaired. But now I’m able to give you a solution to your problem’’ the headmaster took out another paper of his robes.

‘’Brighton?’’ Thaddeus asked looking at the paper. ‘’This is the private school that is on the mortal space of the island right?’’ he asked and the headmaster nodded. ‘’Let’s make an arrangement. Husky transfers to Brighton as a boarding student and Tyler to Diaz’ they will be at the same space but in different dimensions. I’ve asked for a couple favors in the senate and they agreed that Tyler could cross over the dimensions once a day to meet Husky if he wants’’ 

‘’Is that true?’’ came a voice from behind them and they turned to look at Tyler rubbing his eyes like he was trying to wake up. ‘’We both be boarding students? He asked.  
‘’Ty! How long had you been there’’ Husky went to him and pulled him close.

‘’Chill, Husky, I only heard the part of me crossing over the dimensions’’ he said.

Husky sighed in relief, he didn’t knew what he would do if Tyler were to find about him from another’s mouth.  
‘’Yes, but we are not letting both of our boys to go without protection’’ Talia said.

‘’Talia… Please’’ the headmaster begged. ‘’For now you two are Tyler’s legal guardians, I know you have the need to protect him but please also think about what is best for him’’   
The headmaster then got up and got close to Tyler, ‘’My boy, I’m sorry about what you were through’’ he patted his head a couple of times, Tyler smiled a little bit and looked up to him.

‘’I have to go now, I hope to see you soon’’ he said and Tyler nodded just a tiny bit.

The headmaster then disappeared in a flash of lights,

When the lights turned off and his eyes got used to the lighting of the room, Tyler looked at the Husk family. There were several questions on his head, some of hen had been flying since last year when the Husk family showed up at his school and did not seemed weirded out to be at a magic dimension… but for now he pushed those questions away.

‘’I don’t know what I want to do’’ he admitted, ‘’But I know that I don’t want to leave the school’’ he added and Talia wanted to say something but kept quiet. ‘’And I don’t want you guys to be in danger because of me’’ he smiled softly. ‘’I don’t know how you got to know about the school…’’ he directed a stare at Husky’s parents.

Indeed, last year he got to know that the people that went to pick him up after the attacks on the school were Husky’s parents, he didn’t knew why they were allowed to cross over but he knew that it was okay to let them know about magic.

‘’But I know that I will be safe there, and you will be safer with me there’’ he finished.

‘’Tyler… If something happens to you while your parents are not here…’’ Thaddeus started.

‘’I know, but I know that I will be alright, I just know’’ he said firmly and they exchanged sights.  
.  
In the end they agreed to it.

Tyler had to speak with Rory the following day who arrived at the Husk’s home to get a new uniform and several items that were burnt in the fire. Husky’s parents said they would pay for everything since Tyler’s vault at the bank was emptied and destroyed by the attackers and he had no access to the account until the bank finds the exact records of all the money he had in the vault.

Tyler was so embarrassed that they had to pay for it all but he knew that there was no other way he would be able to assist his classes without those items.  
And sooner than they would’ve liked, they were saying goodbye at the docks on a cold morning. Rory, Talia, Thaddeus and Husky were saying their goodbyes to each other.  
Tyler was hugging Husky who looked like he didn’t want to let go when Lucia arrived and cleared her throat making them turn around.

‘’Don’t worry Husky, he will be fine, we will be taking care of him!’’ she grinned and Husky did the same, ‘’you better’’ he said teasingly and she nudged him on the shoulder.  
‘’Tyler, Lucia, we better cross over now’’ Rory said calmly.

‘’we will see each other when I’m settled and I can visit Brighton’’ Tyler promised at which Husky nodded. ‘’You better’’ he repeated with a small laugh.

They finished and Rory walked with Lucia and Tyler behind them towards an alley between a fish store and a building where they crossed over the realms and the purple lighting of the meta-world greeted them.

Tyler sighed a bit, he pulled a little bit on his new uniform. The yellow/golden and black bowtie was in its place, the black cape on his shoulders looked pristine and elegant, his pants and the boots that Rory gifted him on his birthday were clean and perfect and his new hat rested on his head like it was made exclusively for him.

Tyler didn’t liked his new uniform very much. He just knew that the Husk family probably asked Rory to buy him the best version of the school’s uniform and he probably went along with it. That made him feel awfully bad for some reason.

Tyler felt Lucia grabbing his hand and he looked at her. She was looking all around them as they walked through the docks and he soon realized the people wearing grey robes and grey hats around them, all with an air of proudness and with their wands equipped on a strange device around their wrist.

‘’Special Forces’’ she muttered to him. ‘’They are like the FBI of the magical people’’ she said.

They were probably sent to protect the kids who were going to the school.

They arrived to the dock that lead to the ship that was going to take them to the island. Rory approached the docks and was stopped by an officer who asked for his identification.  
Rory showed the officer his wand. ‘’Rory Bennett, Nany Mage, flying teacher and caretaker of the grounds of the school’’ he stated and the officer muttered a few words to the wand. The wand shined a low green light and a few letters and runes appeared around it. The officer nodded and tipped them with his hat. ‘’You can go ahead, have a nice trip’’ he said looking at Tyler for just a second and Tyler thought he saw the guy biting his lip a little bit. He gave Rory his wand back and ushered them forward towards the boat.

They walked a bit when they heard a couple of high pitched screams behind them, Rory quickly got into defense mode and summoned a shield but when they saw a large group of girls around Christopher who was arriving at the piers, they all relaxed.

Tyler saw the officer from before bowing to Christopher and then he saw Christopher looking actually flustered and giving a few words to the officer before walking forward.  
They moved to the side. ‘’Professor’’ he acknowledged Rory and he responded with a smile. ‘’Welcome back, Christopher, I hope we have a good term together’’ he said and the boy nodded and passed from them not even looking at Tyler or Lucia. 

Tyler was not sure if that was exactly good.

They arrived at the boat and saw the bunch of Munch Mons running up and down carrying the several packages and trunks the students brought. Tyler thought it was odd for the students to bring their thing in trunks since they already had a pocket pack with a seemingly infinite storage space.

He tried not to think too much about it as they walked closer and saw at Captain Solus Solaris with his great size, braided beard and eyepatch on the forehead. Tyler remembered then that he never actually talked to the captain and asked him about his patch.

It’s been a long time so he left it alone.

‘’Well, well! I see that it’s my two new boarding residents! Welcome’’ the man said on a thick voice laughing whole heartedly. Tyler and Lucia gave them their greetings and they climbed towards the boat with Rory near them.

They walked around the deck and went inside where the space was larger, a lot of students sitting around and talking and running around joking with each other.  
At the far end of the room they could see a couple of blue haired kids who at the sight of them started to walk forward.

Rory patted both Tyler’s and Lucia’s head. ‘’Well, it’s time for me to control these kids, I have a couple I’d like for you to meet but I will catch up to you’’ he said and quickly dashed towards a few kids running around the deck. ‘’Hey! You will get hurt, knock it off!’’ He yelled at them.  
Tyler saw him get away when he looked around for a second and saw a bunch of people looking at them.

He expected this, after all the commotion of last term and he guessed that news on the magical world also ran fast and people already knew about the fire. But there was something odd about the people looking at him. He noticed quickly that by the lack of colored ribbons around their capes that they were first year students.  
He looked around over and over and noticed that it was really peculiar. ‘’Lucia? Why are all these first years looking at us?’’ he asked and Lucia looked at him with a crooked smile on her face.

‘’Lucia? What did you do?’’ he asked warningly and she raised her hands. ‘’I haven’t done anything I swear’’ she said but he trembling smile only showed just how much of a bad liar she was.

But Tyler could not continue his inquiry because the Luciferus cousins arrived and grabbed him into a tight embrace.

‘’For all the Gods and deities in the seven realms, you are alright!’’ Winnifred hugged him and quickly pulled Lucia into the hug. ‘’You are both alright!’’ she sniffled a little. ‘’Not if you keep choking me!’’ Tyler groaned a bit.

Winn who was hugging him from behind let him go and took a small step back and muttered an apology. Winnifred sighed a bit and also let go.  
Tyler was finally able to look a Winnifred properly. She looked a tiny bit different. Her hair that was bluer before now looked along the lines of greenish blue or aqua colored and was even shorter than last term. The star shaped earring that were on her ears before were now shooting stars and she seemed a bit taller.

‘’I’m sorry, I was so worried when I heard about what happened!’’ she said and sniffled a little, Tyler was not used to see her like that, usually she was more energetic and happy, almost careless, now she looked worried and sad.

‘’We tried to reach you over the CIM but you were not picking up’’ said the voice behind him, Tyler turned to see Winn and found him eye to eye looking close to him. 

Tyler had to see him over twice, Winn’s hair was of a light blue color and now was longer, and his square glasses now had a red colored frame and behind there were two eyes with a mixture of colors between baby blue and green. He looked different… but aside from his hair and eyes Tyler could not pick up why he seemed so different.

Tyler realized he had yet to respond. ‘’It was inside the house when… when it happened’’ he said looking a way a little bit. ‘’I see, I understand’’ Winn said and also looked away but his way was more regretful.

Tyler managed to see that and placed a hand on both the cousins’ shoulders. ‘’I’m here, we are here’’ he only said that but they both nodded and smiled at it.

Then he heard Lucia yelp and he turned around to see Alex wrapping his hands round her from behind. He saw Alex sigh a bit and then went towards him and without letting him say anything he hugged him in the same way.

He didn’t say anything, it seems like he could not say anything or did not want to, but Tyler was so grateful, he felt like this was all he needed.  
They broke apart and Alex smiled at him. ‘’Let’s find a place to sit shall we?’’ he said.  
.  
There was a woman in the human world standing plainly looking at the sky near the docks of seagull city. The woman sighed a bit and turned off her cigarette on the floor. She felt pretty hot but it was due to the big brown leather coat and the classic black fedora she was wearing on top of a white long sleeved shirt and her black trousers. She tapped her boots on the floor a couple times taking off whatever ash was left from the cigarette as her eyes scanned the place and when she was sure there was nobody looking at her she leaned back and slid between the dimension.

There is a second before you cross over the mortal world onto the meta-world where your body is not fully there yet but you are actually there. It is a second or rather a split of a second when you already crossed but your body has not been manifested there yet and this woman knew that right at this moment she could poof herself out of place and then when her particles passed over the worlds she managed to poof herself on top of a clock tower that was looking over the docks.

She quickly hid in the shadows and stared at the water, she quickly scanned the place and found the presence of the boat that was taking the children to Diaz’ school for witchcraft and then she looked at the docks where she saw several guards from the Special Forces.

The Special Magical Counter Attack Team or SMACK as people liked to call them from the initial letters of the first three words and the last two of the last word were standing all around looking vigil and aware.

The woman looked at the high places near the water, there was a fish shop where on top she could see a small glimpse of black fabric. Probably an officer using an invisibility spell but forgot to think of the last inch of fabric that was covering them. That’s the thing about invisibility spells, if you don’t imagine yourself and the last, even the tiniest piece of fabric being invisible then the spell won’t work or won’t work entirely.

Then on top of another fishing place was another officer covered on a camouflage spell. Those worked better sometimes, you just need to conjure a fabric that is thick enough and long enough to cover you and enchant it with the image of the thing that will be covering you. This SMACK officer was using it with the pattern of the roof of the fishing place and the only flaw was a small hole in the fabric that was probably being used to stay vigilant at the scene.

She only noticed because she was particularly good at seeing things, even the smaller things and these officers were good, maybe best of the best but still.

‘’They need more practice’’ she said to herself and thought that it was a good idea to give them practice. In a second she summoned her wand. A plain looking wand just a handle a guard and a pointy blade, all in brown color without any runes or special designs.

She then muttered a spell on her feet and a mall hint of a light appeared on the soles of her boots, she then jumped from the tower and fell softly on the ground a second later without even making a sound.

She then walked towards the docks. ‘’Resta Immobile’’ she said and her wand charged up with a ball of white light. Just when she was close enough and the light was big enough for the first officer to notice she pointed the light at them before they could even point their wands at her and the light shoot itself at them stopping them in their tracks leaving them completely stopped in time. She kept walking just moving her wrist with her wand and stopping officers all around, even the ones on the rooftops without even really looking at them once.

Just one officer who was looking at her like he was too tired for all this shit was spared of the petrification. She walked towards him, at a small booth he was standing at where she just saw him greet some children and see them take off in the boat.

She then smiled, no… it was more of like a smirk as she bowed to him ‘’Mr. Pride!’’ she greeted with an overly-mocking tone. 

‘’Mrs. Justice!’’ he said smiling back at her but a little bit more stern. ‘’Nice seeing you with the rest of the best of the best!’’ she said obviously with sarcasm. ‘’Yeah, well. Not all of them can have the luck of being friends of the most annoying detective on the force’’ he sighed. ‘’Oh, so we are friends now?’’ she turned to look at the frozen officers and let out a small laugh. ‘’You think that if they were my friends, then they knew how to counter attack a simple petrification spell’’ she grinned.

The young blonde man looked all around him. ‘’It doesn’t seem simple, you took them all in one go, and it seemed like you directed the attack with just casting the spell once, you didn’t had to take several shots, just redirect the one you already had’’ he explained and she nodded. ‘’A small little thing I picked up in Paris last month, the forces there like to use their magic in one go’’ 

The man then looked to his feet and then looked at her quickly. ‘’And the officers that were standing underwater?’’ he asked and she quickly smiled more brightly. ‘’Ah, so you did noticed that they should’ve killed me by now, well it’s a small bottle of timing gelatin I put on the water under the docks’’ she then pointed her wand to the floor where a spot on the wooden docks that turned invisible and they could see the water under them looking green.

No… it was more than just green water, at a closer inspection it looked like the water was now green and thicker, they could even see an officer stuck on the thick material. ‘’You just throw it in the water, set an specific time for it to blow up and turns everything into Jell-O, I set the timer to be activated three seconds after I came down of that tower over there’’ she explained.

‘’Oh, so that was you! I saw it and I thought it was a fat bird’’ he said smiling more annoyed now. ‘’Be careful with the comments, I just froze your whole team and can arrest you for looking at young children like they were snacks’’ she shot back. ‘’That’s because I want a child on my own! You know this!’’ he replied with the smile finally disappearing. ‘’I don’t know, we worked on a case once and I had to take a whole trip over the world to forget all of the babbling you kept shooting out of your mouth’’ she smiled.

The man walked around the booth and stood tall in front of her. ‘’Do I need to remind you that I outrank you?’’ he tried. ‘’Do I need to remind you that you are also more bound to the rules because you outrank me? Not to mention you have a bigger stick up your ass’’ she got close to his face.

‘’What do you want, officer Justice?’’ he finally asked. ‘’…’’ she staid quiet for a bit and then moved her wand so all of the officers got liberated. The man quickly ran and placed himself in front of her when the officers got ready to shoot in an instant. ‘’She is fine! She is fine! She is detective Justine Justice! Best woman on the force’’ he announce and they all lowered their hands.

‘’Aw, so you do care’’ she said and the man annoyingly looked at her… Her smile dropped and she started to walk. ‘’Walk with me, I spoke with your boss, you’ll be fine’’ she said walking away and he quickly catch up with him not even questioning anything.

‘’Good job, boys! Next time remember to check on the towers even if they are a little bit far away from the place you are protecting’’ she said to the officers as she walked and they looked at her with equal eyes of annoyance and admiration.

‘’Alright…’’ she started as they walked towards the streets. ‘’This is the thing, I came back last week from Mexico where I was following the trace of a Manticora smuggling thief where I saw something important’’ she explained and the young man nodded. ‘’I was sneaking on one of the warehouses where they kept the poor animals locked on tiny cages where I started to hear shouts, at first I thought I was found out but then I realize they were yelling at something else’’ she kept walking as they entered a park.  
‘’I was hiding behind some barrels where I could see that near the entrance of the warehouse they were yelling and then started to shoot at someone but the shoots bounced back and the people were burnt in seconds! And as I summoned my best camouflage spell I manage to catch a glimpse of the person who decimated those smugglers’’ she then stopped and looked around…

‘’And that person was?’’ the man asked.

‘’Taurus Wellpoint’’ she whispered. The man looked at her with surprised eyes. ‘’One of the rioters? The ones that attacked the school last year as well?’’ he asked with a low voice. She nodded. ‘’I was surprised but I could not move, if I would my cover would be blown so I stayed there until I heard him starting to leave and as he was leaving I took off my camouflage and see that we was taking something in a leather bag’’ 

‘’And you went after him?’’ he asked at which she looked away a little bit annoyed. ‘’You did not?!’’ he asked more surprised than mad. ‘’There were ten beasts scared out of their furs in those cages and the place was starting to catch fire from the spell that Wellpoint shoot, I had to free them first!’’ she said and then rolled her eyes. ‘’But of course I got yelled at by the boss and he told me that if I had a partner things would’ve gotten easier… and that’s when I proposed a deal’’ she raised her brow.

‘’what kind of deal?’’

She walked towards a fountain and jumped up it. ‘’He would let me go after the rioter who took the things from the warehouse if I find a partner!’’ she said. ‘’And he said yes!’’ she beamed proudly. ‘’But of course I had zero leads and zero partner candidates until…’’ 

‘’Until the explosion at the bank and the kidnap of the Suarez’ couple’’ he finished.

‘’Exactly! I was able to find leads on both places but I only needed a partner!’’ she said and then pointed towards him ‘’so I was so screwed until I remembered two things! One, one of my most successful and enjoyable cases was when we teamed up with the SMACK to bust out that whole drug cartel and two, you were the only one who was capable to follow my rhythm during that time’’ she said lifting two fingers.

‘’Wait, hold on!’’ he said but he was interrupted. ‘’So! Chance Pride, would you be my partner for this investigation?’’ she asked.

Chance looked at her like she was crazy. ‘’Alright! You’ve gone completely mad! We worked on that case where you just said I annoyed you, you come and attack my whole team and you expect me to work with you? We are in totally different work teams!’’ he said.

Justine came down the fountain and stared at him. ‘’Special agent Pride or whatever I should call you. In all honestly… he had fun, didn’t we?’’ she asked and the annoyed face on Chance changed slowly.

He tried not to smile, he really tried but then a small smirk appeared on his face. ‘’What about that plate with the ham?’’ she asked and the smile got bigger at the mention on the inside joke. ‘’The officer who fell on his face when he tried to open an obvious Mimic transformed into a door?’’ she asked and a small chuckle came out of the man.

‘’The girl with the awful pink dress’’ he muttered and then they both lost it and started to laugh. ‘’Come on Justine! This is a serious case’’ he said between laughs. ‘’Yes! But that’s exactly the thing… this will get serious and even ugly… but you and me, we can do it and I will need someone to pull me out of the very dark places that my mind will go to’’ she said looking straight at him in the eyes.

If the man said that this didn’t reached his heart he would be lying. ‘’Aw, so you do care’’ he said and she rolled her eyes. ‘’So, are you in? I even sent a request to your boss and everything, this whole thing will be official!’’ she offered and the man nodded. ‘’Fine! But just because I know that you will run to save a cat in front of a whole group of enemies and will get your cover blown or something’’ he said and she quickly looked at him annoyed. ‘’Hey! That only happened once!’’

 

.  
They were sitting near a window looking at the water, they sailed about twenty minutes ago and were now just retelling the story of what happened to the cousins, Alex shared some candy with them and they were all eating as now Tyler told them how the headmaster came into the Husk’s home and asked them to let him go to the school as a boarding student.

Lucia told of a similar story but it seemed like the headmaster had to take half an hour of yells from her mom before she actually agreed to let her go as well.

‘’Mom was really upset! But she agreed that in case that someone would come for me, she would not be able to protect me like the school could. They did left several officers to place spells at home and on her workplace’’ she said as she put a piece of Fire-melon candy on her mouth. For a second her face got really red but then relaxed.

‘’Indeed, I believe that the protective spells that the school has will be far greater this term. We shall be protected’’ Winn mentioned while nibbling on a small piece of cake.

‘’But seriously… to attack your vault and then your home’’ Winnifred looked annoyed at the thought and swallowed a piece of blue-beer-berry (nonalcoholic version) candy.

‘’They must be really pissed off after what I did’’ Tyler grumbled under his breath. ‘’But it’s alright. The officers, both magical and mortal, they could not find any bodies in the ashes… so that must mean that my parents are still alive’’ he said trying to keep positive but it was finding to be harder and harder now…

Especially with the dark voice inside his head telling him that hope is futile.

No… he needed to keep positive, he needed to keep thinking that his parents were alive and he needed to believe that… believe… believe what?  
That officers would find them? Which officers? Who came to talk to him and offered help? Until now… nobody did that…

Tyler was starting to think several things when a girl with blonde hair came towards them. Tyler looked at her and she had a beautiful face with sky blue eyes, her golden curly hair fell all the way to her hips and she found her to be even more stunning than Lucia was.

‘’Excuse me, you are Mr. Tyler Suarez. Is that right?’’ she asked blushing a bit and Tyler wondered for a second if he might be bi.

‘’Y-yeah’’ he nodded and she smiled broadly and so brightly he thought he might go blind. ‘’My name is Vice Porter! I’m a first year! And I’ve been reading you like crazy’’

The faces of everyone except Tyler turned so shocked at that moment that Tyler thought that they might’ve heard the girl say something awful to him. But Tyler was so puzzled he only blinked and asked. ‘’I’m sorry, read? What do you mean?’’ he asked and Winn tried to say something but the girl interrupted him. ‘’You know! Your guide! Even since the CIM came out to the public and every kid and adult started to get one I found your guide to survive a witch school and I read it like crazy! Most of the rules tell of you being true to yourself and stick with your friends but I loved it! It gave me the confidence to get to this school despite me being an irregular’’ she smiled and took quickly a piece of parchment out of her pocket pack and a small feather.

‘’If it’s alright with you, can I get an autograph?’’ she asked and it was maybe because Tyler didn’t know what to do or he was shocked to know that someone actually read the small rules he started to write last year as a form to relax and survive his school life or maybe it was just because he noticed a lot of first years also looking at him in this moment that he took the feather and signed the parchment.

The girl looked extremely happy and she looked at the signature like it was made of gold. ‘’Thank you! I will treasure it!’’ she said and walked away to another girl with long blonde hair with the end of her hair dyed in pink that was tied on pigtails and they chattered away.

‘’W-what on earth was that?’’ he asked when she was out of earshot and looked at his friends looking away from him. ‘’Guys?’’ he asked warningly.

‘’W-well you see! A-after last year’s attacks, there was a moment when we found your guide… being Winn and I, that is’’ Winnifred started. ‘’And we took an interest in it! because it was so sweet that you kept writing that your friends were the most important thing in order to survive a witch school… and then Winn made the CIM public and started to sell like crazy….’’

‘’Winnifred, I don’t know what you are saying, how did the CIM became public and how does that relate to what I wrote?’’ Tyler asked.

‘’Well, over the holidays, the CIM became public, Winn started to sell the invention and it took of greatly, suddenly a lot of magicals were connected with a sole device, sort of like the internet and cellphones’’ Lucia explained. ‘’I was going to tell you but then more pressing matters came, like homework and the fact that the cousins almost caught the disease they were fighting back home’’ she said and Tyler nodded.

Over the holidays he receive notice that the Luciferus cousins were fighting a mysterious disease back at home which took time and some of the best scientists to create a cure. Winn surprisingly helped the research team and Winnifred tended to the sick like a professional nurse but that ended up almost getting them sick with the disease as well but by then the cure was finished so they were safe.

‘’so it slipped my mind to tell you’’ she said.

‘’And how does that relate to my… guide to survive a witch school?’’ Tyler asked and they all got quiet for a second.

‘’Well, Winn was putting a lot of information on the CIM, some books and notations of his inventions and new potions that might help some other people around the magical world’’ Winnifred started and then her voice got lower. ‘’And then… by accident…’’ she stopped talking there.

‘’I placed your guide on the CIM…’’ Winn said looking straight at him, a mix of shame but bravery on his face.  
And in another situation Tyler might’ve appreciated the honesty but right now… he only felt mad.

‘’You did what?!’’ he asked almost yelling, he started to whisper harshly at him. ‘’You leaked my notes?!’’ he asked and then he looked at the rest. ‘’And you knew?!’’   
‘’Ty, come on it’s not as bad as it seems’’ Alex tried but Tyler only lifted a finger.

T̛̙̭̻̜͈̣͈͋́̏̏̋́̕͢͟h̡̧̨̛̺̠̝̞͇̭̩̔̆̅̌̈̄̾̚͠e̸̛̹̞̗̲̖̞͚͇͑̄̔̔̿̕y̵̝̬̘͉̯̋͌̈̔͌̚ ḑ̵̲̹̖͎̫͓̱͚̹͛͌͂̆̃̉̕͠ǫ̵̛͚͉̣̩͍͕͍̹͇̿̂̈́͑̓̍n̝̙̱̳̤̾͆́̅'̷̢̢͎͙̜͛̂͑͑̿͆̉̈͛͢͜t̵̡͇̙̳̫͎̙̹͍͌̓̽̐ u̪͈̼͙̮͐̅̃̓̇̋͟n̘̭̘̝̜̻͂̒͗͆̃͊̕͢͝d̨̟̲̺͙̣̩̂͋̐̑̍̚ë͚̰̥͉͓̩͇̝̓͒̓̿̑̕͢͝ͅr̴̡̮̝̫̤̟̗͉͋̂́̓̕͝ŝ̵̪̮͇͙̍̄̊̑̌͂͋͟t̨̜͇̞̞̬̂͌̄͂̀̓̿̓̐a̡̺̪̣͆̾̂̋̕̕ͅn̨̧̨͚̝̣̬͍̺̤̐̉̅͂͞͝d̵̢̰̫͐̌͒̈́̈́̋͢ͅ.̶̹̫̤̺̖̜̾̈́̆̋̚͘  
̖̝͖̼͔͐̉͋͐̂̎̔̎͂  
ḯ̖͇̙̮̪̩̟͇̣͊͛̚͝ͅt̹̺̘͉̘̅̇̅̓͂̋̐'̴͓̩͔̲̰̘͚͎̙̼̾͋̋̈̋̿͐͋͝s̴̺̼̰̥̒͋̓̉̓̑̕̕͜͜͠ a̢̬̲̱̣͗̍͛͌͒̽͒̂͠ļ̸͔̝̲͓͖͔̹̬̋̒͋̋̂́̓̾̀̐͜l̤̠̬̰̬̈̃̈́̈́̈́ ţ͇̳͚͉̩̬͗̈́͆̾̈͢h̶̘̬̠̼̓̅̈́͑̕ͅe̷̙̗̯̹̟̘̞̮̣͗̿̏̈͝i̴̠̟̱͎̟̠̜̞͗̅̈́͂͠͝r̯̠̲̱͂̈́̔́̕͜ f̢̯͔̼͉̬̟͌͂̆̂̿͒̄̚͜͞ä̵̺̭̠̞͈̲́͊́̊̐͘͟ū̷͚̯̪̠̝̃͌͒͘͢l̡̢͓̠̼̈́̅͛̓͛͒̉͜͝t͓͚̪̟̭̘̥̻́̄̃̿̿̿͂͞͞.̸̧͈̟͈̜̭̭̦͉̓͒̓̂͐̋̚  
̶̛̦̮̮̳͕̇̐͗̿̾͗̏͘͟

 

b̨̧̝̗̺̓͆̑̍̐̐̍͘͜ͅl̸͎͚̭̪̓̋̃́̿̄̓͛̓͆͟͟a̡̡͙͕͙͚̒̃͝͝m̷̢̛͍̠̺̬͚͕̊͊͌̊̎͢ͅę̴͓̤̤̦̬̣́̌̾͝͞͡ t̨̜̭̞͓̂̍͛͂̌͑̐ḧ͎̩̜̯͍́͒̇͂̑̕͘͝͝e̴̡͍̝̺̠̹̋̒̒̂̽m̵̡̙̪̘̮̦̻̤̓̉̐͂̊̓͞͡ͅ.̶̤̩̣͉̹̐̔̈́͑̕͢͢  
.  
Came the voice inside his head…. Tyler started to listen to it.

‘’Not as bad? Come on! That thing was almost like a diary to me, I put a lot of things there! My rules, my dreams, my runes from class the ones that I manage to create’’ he then looked at Winn. ‘’Dude, you leaked my runes!’’ he said angrily.

b͍͉̼̻̺̩̱͖͂͛̊̔ę̸̦͔͍͎̺̈́̃̐̍͑̓͐̕͜͞͝ m̢̯̗̠͖͙̹͋̍̇̍͌͑̂̓a̺͎͇͓͔̪͋̽̑͆͘͟d̴̝̤̘̰̝͗͊͗̑̿̊͡͞ à̸̢̧̨̼̩̹̭͈̈́̃̀͛͜͜ṫ̵̡̡̛͙̲̺͇̲͕̲͆͑̚̕͞͞ͅ t̨̯̦͕̪͖̙̪̽̇͑̇̕͜͡ͅh̛͕͔̪͇̬͚̊̂̂̎̚͘͟͡e̴̠̗͎̖͍̤̬̓͊̉̂m̶̰̯̼̼̑͋͂̿̿̈͂̀ͅͅ

He almost heard the voice. But he saw Winn’s face at that moment, and something flicked back in his mind.

Winn was not a boy who would show his feelings on his face, he was almost always serious, looking straight at people’s faces and saying whatever came to his mind even if it was a bit rude.

But now Winn was not looking at him, he was looking down at his clenched fists, he could see a deep blush on his cheeks and a little tremble on his shoulders…he was so… ashamed.

Tyler clicked his tongue and sighed. He took several sighs actually, he then got up, kneeled in front of Winn and grabbed his hands. Winn almost took them away but the touch was gentle and kind so Winn let him take his hands although he didn’t look at Tyler.

‘’I’m really mad, alright? But that doesn’t mean I get to make you feel this bad… I’m sorry’’ he tried to smile as best as he could, drowning the voice in his head but still a knot tied up on his throat like he wanted to yell at Winn so much more… even then he fought it and he kept it to himself.

Winn finally looked at him with a surprised look on his face and grabbed Tyler’s face. ‘’I’m the one who is sorry! Please do not apologize for being mad at me!’’ he said more serious now, still blushing from the shame but retaining the gaze. ‘’A lot of shit happened to you these days, if you want to be mad at me do it, be mad… let it all go, please’’ Winn begged.

And it was like the knot on his throat never existed. Because Winn was so kind, sure he was weird to talk to and too serious sometimes… but Tyler had never ever thought that Winn was not a good friend to him.

Accidents happen…

That’s what Tyler thought right now. So with that in his mind he gently kissed Winn’s hands. ‘’It’s alright, I’m alright… we are alright…’’’ he smiled more kindly this time and Winn muttered another apology and surprising even himself went to hug Tyler.

Tyler left himself be wrapped in warmness. It seemed like, the more he kept wrapping himself in it the less he could hear the voice.

Then another voice, more real, came from behind them. ‘’I swear, those kids will be the death of me’’ came the complaining voice of Rory.

Tyler broke away from the hug and stood up to look at him. ‘’Rory? Are you alright?’’ he asked and the teacher nodded. ‘’Yeah, just a couple of first years being rough. And I can’t seem to find my children!’’ he rolled his eyes and started to mutter to himself. ‘’those two are probably off laying down in some place by themselves, sleeping and wasting time, for all of the gods!’’ 

Alex looked around and then at Rory. ‘’I’m sorry. Your children?’’ he asked and that seemed to snap Rory out of his thoughts.

‘’Ah yes. My children, they start their first year today!’’ he smiled kindly. ‘’I was so excited to introduce them to you guys but I can’t seem to find them’’ he looked around one more time.

‘’Well, how do they look like? Maybe we can help you look?’’ Winnifred offered.

‘’Well, they are twins, one with white hair and the other with white-pinkish hair. Ah but don’t worry! We will see them at the entrance ceremony anyways, we are almost arriving at the school’’ Rory smiled and then took a pocket watch out of his pockets and looked at it. ‘’Yes, any time now. Let’s get ready, ask for a munch-mon to help you with your luggage and then we will see each other at the entrance ceremony, alright?’’ he asked and the squad nodded.

‘’White hair and white-pinkish hair? That sounds like any Lilithen from our town’’ mentioned Winnifred.

‘’Oh, no, they just were born with those colors, well, they both have white hair but Ophelia decided to dye hers a little bit pink’’ Lucia said already getting up to get ready.  
‘’you know them?’’ asked Winnifred curiously.

‘’yeah! I meet them once, remember that Rory is my godfather, we went to his house to visit last thanksgiving’’ she smiled.

‘’Are they nice?’’ Tyler asked and the smile on Lucia’s face fell a bit. ‘’They are… different, you will see when you meet them’’ she said.

Tyler didn’t want to push any further but there was something on Lucia’s face that he didn’t like very much when she talked about Rory’s children.

He started to get ready and went to pick his luggage when he got stopped by the hand of Alex. He pulled him to the side and came close to his ear. ‘’Hey, you sure you alright, partner?’’ he asked, a southern accent dripping on his ear and a minty breath around him. Tyler almost trembled there but he just tried to keep his cool and nodded. ‘’I’m… fine’’ he managed to say.

Alex shot him a grin and ruffled his hair. ‘’Now that we’ll live together, if anything is bothering you, please tell me’’ he said and walked away.

And it was only at that moment that Tyler realized that he will be living together with Alex, under the same roof, probably on the same dorm room…   
Tyler almost fainted right there.

.  
For Christopher, the boat trip to school was hell. First he had to be chased down by hi so-called club of fans, then he had to see freaking Tyler Suarez first thing in the morning and he had to tune it down on the insult because he just happened to hear about the fire a few hour prior to that meeting.

He was going to the piers on one of the floating cars owned by his family when he heard the driver talking to Jackson about the explosion on the bank, he was around with Pamela when it was about to happen but since they had their things already they went away with Jackson back to their homes.

Then the driver told them about the several fires on the mortal world and happened to mention a house being burnt down on Seagull City. That’s when Christopher remembered the dream.

There was a house engulfed in flames and Tyler was falling under a black void in front of that house. He remembered and quickly took out the CIM that for some reason was given to him as a gift even when he said he didn’t needed one.

He muttered the spell to turn it on and searched for information, some of the papers from the magical world were already using the CIM as another means of sharing information. He then confirmed his suspicions.

The house of one of Diaz’ students was burnt to the ground, they didn’t gave details of the name of the student but Christopher knew that it was Tyler’s.

When he saw Tyler for the first time that day he confirmed his suspicions as he saw him talking to Lucia and there was no light on his eyes… he passed next to him without even looking at him and kept walking even when he just wanted to turn around and…

And what? He didn’t know… talk to him? Say something encouraging? Hug him? Why?! He didn’t know he just kept walking until he arrived to the boat and had Pamela again bothering him and teasing him about Tyler.

‘Oh, he looks so sad! You should go there and make out with him, that is ought to make him feel better about his parents being burnt into ashes’ she remember her saying and he was about to smack her in the head when she smirked again. ‘Why are you so angry? Got something to defend? Something to be mad about?’ she teased him more. ‘After all, all you keep saying is how much you hate him, but I see you staying away when he is having a hard time instead of going to bully him like always, why is that? Could it be you actually care?’ she smirked wickedly.

Christopher got up and went as far as possible from her and then he passed next to two of the girls he saw on his vision. The one with the long blonde hair and the other with the pigtails. He ignored them as he did not wanted to think about it.

But then… then he had to see that damn fucking Tyler inside the boat kneeling next to that damn Luciferus kid and kissing his hands. And inside of him something ugly and green grew.

He got jealous….

He started to walk there but he stopped midway when he realized that he had no right to say anything to Tyler or Winn.

They were not friends, they were his enemies! And seeing then act like that should not be bothering him, not him! Not he prince of Crystalia, not the one who has so many things that he needs to succeed at.

No, they were distractions, he turned and left.

But as they arrived at the island and went to get on the carriages he grabbed Pamela and only got her with him on one carriage. Even if he could not stand her sometimes, she is the only person who he could call a comrade.

They got to the school and they got ready to hear the entrance ceremony.  
.  
Tyler was seeing everything from the perspective of a second year now. He looked at the first years all nervous and scared at the palm reading was taking place.  
He watched and there were a few interesting people around.

A kid that was called in front, Dante Allen, he wore his robes loose around his shoulders and you could see a bright red shirt under his school button up white shirt. He had brown hair and brown eyes that looked mischievous. ‘’You are a Wizard, my dear’’ Mrs. Broom said and the guy just raised his eyebrow and walked away with his hands on his pockets.

Another kid, Virgil Mare walked towards them, Tyler for a moment thought that he might be Rory’s kid from the fact that he had white hair but since his last name was not Bennet he thought they might be someone else. He had some googles on top of his hair and under his hat and this kid looked more serious than Winn, while Winn had a serious professional stare on his face this kid had a serious bored almost tired look. He got the title as Mage and walked away.

Then, Vice Porter, the girl who asked for his signature walked to the teacher. ‘’Witch!’’ the teacher said and the girl cheered and smiled brightly at everyone, he could almost see the hearts of everyone present being shot by cupid arrows.

Another blonde girl with pigtails, the one that was talking to Vice back on the boat walked. Amy Stone, was her name and she got with the witches as well.

A boy with black hair that fell on his shoulders walked, he had dark green eyes and looked so happy to be there, Tyler heard that his name was Gabriel Bennett but he did not fit the description of one of Rory’s kids so he could not be one of them. He got into the sorcerers and seemed a little pained about it but smiled nonetheless.

Then a black girl with big hair walked towards while blowing some bubblegum on her mouth. She looked like she was better than anyone and she knew it. Tyler heard her name was Nelly Nedd and got into the Sorceress category.

And then the people got quiet when a girl… boy? Well she looked like a girl but was wearing the boys’ uniform, he heard that her name was Grace Gales and she walked moving her long brown hair to one side and the other. Then she got into the sorceress as well.

Then the name finally came up. Zacharias Bennett. Tyler paid attention as he saw a boy with another serious expression came to the front, aside from Winn or the other boy who looked bored, Zacharias Bennett looked absolutely void of emotion whatsoever. He sat got the Sorcerer category and then he walked to the crowd leading a girl next to him by the hand.

Tyler almost gasped. The girl had white pinkish hair and was smiling excitedly but there was a wrap of bandages on her eyes as she walked towards the front. ‘’Ophelia Bennett’’ the teacher said smiling. Is so good to finally meet you’’

Ophelia smiled a beautiful smile even under those wraps. ‘’I’m so glad to be here’’ she said with a sweet voice and soon got her palm read and came into the Enchantress category.

Soon it was all over. Rory came towards them with the two children next to him and smiled proudly.

´´Tyler, Alex, Winn and Winnifred. These are my children’’ he said smiling. ‘’Ophelia and Zachary’’ 

‘’H-hello! Nice to meet you!’’ Ophelia said blushing to all of them who she could not see. ‘’Nice to meet you’’ said Zacharias bowing respectfully a bit.

‘’Nice to meet you guys!’’ Alex said first going to shake their hands. He grabbed Zachary quickly and shook him up and down, the boy looked a little bit surprised but his serious façade came back quickly. He grabbed Ophelia’s hand which surprised her a bit but she shook the hand as well. 

Winn and Winifred said hello as well. And then it was Tyler’s turn.

‘’Nice to meet you’’ he said and Zachary looked at him up and down.

‘’You are the one… the one that tried to save them’’ he said and Tyler knew exactly what he was talking about. He meant the kids that were taken last year. He sighed and nodded while his face turned sad.

‘’You did all you could!’’ Ophelia said quickly, ‘’I’m sure they will find them soon!’’ she added.

‘’We…Will stick together as well. We as irregulars’’ mentioned Zacharias.

‘’Y-you guys are?’’ Tyler asked and they both nodded. ‘’We were scared to come here but we heard about what you did and we are sure that this is the place for us’’ Ophelia said.  
‘’See, Tyler? We have more allies now’’ Lucia said, the twins turned their heads at Lucia.

‘’Lucy!’’ came Ophelia running to where she heard the voice and Lucia hugged her quickly. ‘’Hello! How are you my girl?’’ she said and the girl kind of sobbed. ‘’I’m good! After my potion is made I will be able to see again’’ she said and Lucia held her close. ‘’Alright! Let’s hope for the best then’’ she said.

Zacharias had another kind of reaction he only waved at her a bit and then turned to Rory. ‘’May we go now? I need to get to my new room’’ He said and Rory nodded. Zacharias went to grab his sister and without saying a word started to walk away with her despite her protests.

Rory sighed a little bit with sadness on his eyes. ‘’I guess I’m still not good enough’’ he muttered. Then he clapped his hands and looked at Tyler and Lucia.  
‘’Well guys! It’s your turn! Time to go to your new rooms’’ he said and Alex quickly grabbed Tyler.

‘’Oh! Yes! I will take Tyler!’’ he cheered while Lucia got grabbed by Winnifred. ‘’Then I will take this one!’’ she said and pulled them into the castle.  
‘’Alex wait! My luggage!’’ Tyler tried just to have Alex let go of his hand that he felt it was on fire as well as his face.

‘’They were taken already by some munch mons!’’ he said grinning. 

‘’You guys are too quick!’’ Yelled Winn from behind but Alex ignored him kept running with Tyler.

They came running through the hallways through several stairs of the castle until they reached a tower where a large red door was standing.

The door opened by itself letting them in and Tyler was found with a large round room with bookshelves all over the walls, a fire on the far wall, black carpets and red sofas where several boys were sitting and either reading, joking or napping. He looked up and saw the painting of a clear sky that was moving like real clouds were passing by.

‘’Do you like it?’’ Alex asked and Tyler could onlynod. ‘’Come on! Let me take you to the rooms’’ he said while taking him through one door that led to a hallway with several doors with numbers on them. ‘’First floor is for the first years. Since we go to our second year we go to the second floor’’ he said leading him to some stairs at the end of the hallway, just before going up he could see that there was another hallway connecting the stairs. ‘’What’s over there?’’ he asked.

‘’Some gardens and the bathrooms, we will check them out later, come on!’’ Alex urged him and climbed up the stairs.

They walked through the hallways on the second floor until they reached to a room with the number 077 and Alex opened the door.

Inside there was a big room with a similar layout as the big room downstairs, black carpet with several golden embroideries, a small fireplace and some empty bookshelves next to two small couches. Two beds were at each side of the room next to two big windows and he smiled at it looked lovely and comfortable.

‘’Do you like it?!’’ Alex asked jumping a bit.

‘’I love it!’’ Tyler admitted.

‘’Yes!’’ he cheered a bit. Tyler laughed and he just had to ask. ‘’Alex, why are you so excited about showing me my room?’’ he said.

‘’Our room!’’ he grinned.

Hold on!

Wait a bit!

‘’What?’’ he asked blinking twice.

‘’Our room, Ty!’’ he grinned more. ‘’We are roommates now!’’ Alex announced loudly.

Tyler felt like he was going to faint, Tyler would totally faint, Tyler was fainting.

Tyler fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOT that really took a while, Hope i can keep up with posting regullary and I wanted to end this chapter with al ight note since so many things are happening.  
> Next chapter will be more magical with classes starting and all, so dont worry!   
> BTW hope you like Justice and Pride, I created them to fill a part outside the school so the plot doesnt feel too centered in one location, Hope you guys can come to love them.  
> Well this is it for now i will write more soon i promise!!!!   
> and always thank you for reading it really makes my day every day!


	3. Chapter 3: The Ward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First let it be know, that the investigating duo won't be making an appearance this chapter, their story differs a bit from Tyler's so i take a while to come up with their investigations. Hopefully next chapter will include them and might open with their scene.
> 
> This chapter gets kind of heavy for Ty and Husky but hopefully things will turn out alright... right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! a couple of things first, regarding things that happened this month.  
> I received a comment that someone tried to publish this story on Amazon and sell it, guys that makes me kind of sad, I'm not doing this to get a profit I actually came to love my characters and therefore let this serve as a claim that all characters in this story belong to me unless stated otherwise beforehand, I go by many names online, Rony or roxj are the main ones if you don't see any of those names on a published story be sure that it wasn't me.
> 
> I don't allow the usage of my characters for profit without authorization and I hope you guys came to love them as much as me to respect that.
> 
> That being said thanks to the people who help me by letting me know and the people who investigated this matter with me LOTS OF LOVE FOR Y'all!
> 
> well like Myrtle Snow would say, ENOUGH CHIT CHAT!
> 
> this chapter is kind of long as usual and I tried to fit a lot of information there and make it a little bit shorter but in the end it came to be kind of emotional, next one hopefully will be more relaxed! we know Ty needs some relaxation.

Chapter 3.  
The Ward.

It wasn’t until a few minutes later when Alex managed to wake Tyler up. Ty spent a few seconds sitting on the floor and looking around when he suddenly realized what had happened and stood up abruptly.

…Maybe too abruptly.

He felt his head spinning a little bit and he felt himself falling back once more but Alex held him by the waist. ‘’Whoa! Hold on there, buddy!’’ he said looking concerned. ‘’Are you alright? What happened? Did you eat? Are you hungry? Do you want to drink something?’’ Alex kept bombarding him with questions and Tyler felt too awkward and too red on the face that he didn’t know what to say.

After all, what could you say in this situation? ‘Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just that when I realized that you, my friend, and my crush since last year, will be my roommate for this entire year’ no, he could not say that, not now, not ever, not in a million years.

He turned around to see some kind of escape from this predicament and found Winn just sitting on one of the chairs reading a book; he rose up an eyebrow and asked ‘Are you alright?’ 

Tyler nodded and tried to escape the situation. ‘’I-I-I-I’m fine! Just, there are so many things happening I think I got overwhelmed’’ he said hoping that it was enough but Winn looked knowingly at him for a moment and then turned back to his book. Alex, on the other hand, looked at Tyler with a worried expression and took him by the hand to the bed at the right side of the room.

‘’You should lay down for a bit’’ he said gently pushing him to the bed.

Tyler’s heart just jumped several times when he did that, he was just laid down by his crush on the bed on the most gentle and caring way he could imagine.

‘’I’m fine… I promise!’’ he tried stuttering a little bit. ‘’anyways, he have class’’ he said and tried to get up, this time he was pleased to find out that he did not get dizzy.

‘’If you are sure…. But it’s a bummer that we get classes on the first day’’ sighed Alex.

‘’This is a school’’ mentioned Winn as a matter of fact at which Alex just rolled his eyes playfully and Tyler let out a small laugh.  
‘’What do we have first?’’ Tyler asked trying to pull his schedule from his pocket pack.

‘’According to my schedule, we have an hour to settle into our rooms and then… I have Potions and Medicines class’’ Winn said looking at his own schedule.

‘’Hmm. It seems I have that as well’’ Alex said and when Tyler finally managed to take out his own schedule out of his pocket pack he read it and let out a tired breath.

‘’I have Black Magic as first class’’ he said with a sad tone at which his friends just looked a bit concerned.

‘’It seems we are going to be separated this year’’ said Alex and rested his hand on Ty’s shoulder. ‘’It’s alright! We will see each other all the time anyways’’ he grinned and Tyler nodded. Then they started to head out for the exit ready to start their classes.  
.

Mrs. Bolt B. Black, a middle aged woman with white skin and darkness on her eyes. She was the witch who taught Tyler black magic, which was by far Tyler’s less liked class.

 

She eyed the children on the class and walked around without saying anything, her heels not even making a sound on the ground and hidden under her long black skirt that almost made her look like she was floating around the room with an air of grandeur or fear.

In the end she finally stood in front of the class and addressed them. ‘’Welcome, second year students’’ she said without smiling or showing much expression besides disdain to the class. ‘’I hope you all had enough time to read during vacation, because we are going to be looking into a lot of things this term’’ she turned around and took a piece of parchment from her desk. ‘’Now that you have your actual wands we will be able to perform curses, hexes, jinxes and all kinds of evocations in a more efficient way’’  
She read over the parchment and snapped her fingers where a black feather appeared and she started to write on it.

‘’I took the time to look over your assignment for vacation. Foster, good job as usual’’ she mentioned and Christopher who was sitting on a desk next to Tyler grinned cockily. ‘’Holt, nice job, but you need to work on restraint as well’’ she said and Pamela who was next to Christopher looked up from her perfectly painted green nails and made a mockingly salute.

She listed a few more until finally…’’Suarez… as always leaving everything until the last minute, your entry was the last one on my list’’ she said and walked towards him and slowly leaned until she was face to face to him.

‘’You barely passed with that curse, pay a little bit more attention this term’’ she said and then looked at his hair for a moment… under her stare Tyler felt uncomfortable, scared even, she always looked like she was ready to go against him or even bully him around. She smiled a bit ‘’Good to know that nothing looks… ashy’’ she said and walked back to her desk.  
…..

The voice inside him grew three times as ever when she said that.

 

w̥̹̻ͤ͜h̨̡̟͋͛̑̓ͩ̂̎̐̎ḁ̠̐ͧ̊̓͆̊̂ͯt̲̙̯̗̱͛̑͡ ͑̉ͮͮ̋̈́ͮ̑͏̖̫̹d̖̘͖̓ͦͪ̿̂̇͐i̛̩̖͎̫̱̩ͯ͒̃d͚͍͆ͩ͡ ̩̓ͧ̈́ͫ͝͡s̡̜͇̣̗̻͎̒̌ͪ̓͌͌h͖͇͕͚̦̘̪̖͌̌́ē̳̮̦̬̄̃̓̓̚ͅ ̯̯̪̠̻͓̓ͭ̑ͬ͊ͨ̓̚s̛̛͕̥͉̾̋̓̆a̧͚̠̜̘̠̗͕̝ͥ̊̋ͧ͟i̸̱̪̯̤͚ͥ̇ͥ̀͑d͉͇̘̺͓͔͙̾ͧ̋̀̈̐͟?̲

Is that what she said? 

Ashy?

Like ashes?

s̠̹̻͚͍̗̦͖ͦ̑̂̌ͬͥ̊̕͠ḩ̱̔̓̊̄͠eͣ̀̇͗͏̝̦̰̯̝ ̛̛̙̼̑́ͫ̉̒ͅdͤͨͬ̄͏̟̯̻͕̠ȋ̡̢͍͉̤̞̞̼ͣ̇͆̉͆d̷̥̬̬̘̘̖̪͉ͭͦ̑̑̀̊ͧ͘̕n̶̺̜͗͛̕͞'̴͖̮͇̹͓̮̪̓̈͑̚ͅẗ̥̰́̔͛̒̊̓̒͢͟ ̏ͩ͏̭̫͖̤̖̣d̓̋͒̾̑͏͇̞a̞̩̹̪ͦ͐̓ͪͩͨͫr̀ͩ̐͆̌͆͢͏͉̺̖͓̠̙ē͂́͗҉̩̩̳̼͘d̘̰͖̺̈̇ͣ͗̂̍̀̉̚͜!̂̔̓ͩ̅҉̙̣͈͓̰̘̦̠  
s̛͓̈͠h̷͇͈̪͍̐̉̓͠e̯̙̺ͤ͋̋̌̆̍̓ͮ̂͝ ̠̠͓̻̗̘̐̋ͫ̋ḑ̩̩̓͐̈́ͣ̉͌̇͟͢í͕͚̫ͨ̊͢͢d̆̄̽̏̅͌̐̚̚͏̩̳̠̦̳͖̼͕ ̸̲̈̋͛̈͆͗̂j̷͈̭̥̹͙͓͉̈́̌͟ȗ͙̞̭̇̿ͮ̒̐ͬ͟ŝ̨̬̥̤͇̭̳͐͊ͥẗ́͛ͪ̔̒ͯ҉͖͔͕ͅ ̨̞̥̙̠͚͓̼̐̾̍̚͠n̦͍̭͖ͭ̿̆̂ͨ͆͒ͅo̧̩̙̮̩̐ͧͅţ̐̀̿͊ͫͪ͏̫͇͇͕̝ ̶͈̗͇͉̾ͦs̗̟̤͕̦͍̜̺̗͑̽͐͌ͤ͊ͪ̕͡a͉̯͐͗͞i̹̖̟̬̳ͥͥ̓͛ͯͮ͒͡d̰̠̄͒̏̈́̉͌͐̽͡ ̳̱̳͈̤͗͟tͥͤͪͦ͋ͫ̎͠҉̭͙̟̠̪h̸̛̭͎̲̼̗̐̅ͧ̉̌̋͆̔a̯̱͙̣͓͍̪͛͊͘ͅt̴̝̰̟̭ͦ͗͊̕͡!̬̩͈̗̭̍̄̚ͅ  
m̛͈͖͚͐̓̌̇a̦̱͔͚͙̦̿̐̔ͯ̋ͫk̴̳̱͎̰̞͛͋͐ͫ̊̚ͅè̸̡͙̣̯̩̖̘̝̒ͪ̇̊ͣ͗̾̐͟ ̸͔͖̺̭͕͐̉ͦh̴͌ͯ̄̿̓̚҉͍̩ȩ̶̗͓ͣͤ̎̀̄͑̇̎ͥ͡r̴̮̟͚̠̼̞͕̪ͯ͗̎ͯ͊͘͟ ͖̙͉̽ͬ͝p̷̨̻̞̣̯̮̜̘̠̆̃̂ͨͥ͐̎ͭȧ̧̾͠ͅy̡̛͇̣ͭ̑͜.̗̥͚̬́̉̾̊ͫ͋͑̕̕͘.̊ͤͬ͏̭̞.̼̺̥̩̱͎́͆́̍̾̈́̒̋͜

Tyler tried to calm down turning down the sounds inside his head; he tried to take a deep breath while the teacher finished walking to her desk.

Tyler was all alone in this class. His schedule had him on this class all by himself meanwhile all of his friends were scattered to different classes. He knew it was going to be thought but if Mrs. Black was about to pick him up with the thing that happened to his house, to his family. Then he was going to have a big problem in his hands, the problem being not knowing if he could restrain himself not to detach Mrs. Black head from her torso.

In the end he calmed down and didn’t mutter a word during the lesson, he tried to pay attention as much as he could and write the most difficult points on the curse they will be preparing for the next few days that called upon a specific time and position of the moon.

But as much as he tried to concentrate there was something pulling him out of the thoughts of black bat blood and flies form the north western volcano that would help him with the potion when he kept feeling a stare next to him every now and then.

He knew that Christopher was prone to glare at him but he was just starting right now like he was looking at something specific or maybe like he was admiring something. Tyler obviously disregarded that last thought as the idea of Christopher admiring something on him would be just ridiculous and instead he just turned his gaze towards him for a second but Christopher was already looking at his notebook writing all sorts of symbols and ingredients.

‘Maybe I’m going crazy’ Tyler thought for a second at which the voice responded. 

 

N̡̜͔͚͕͉̻̭̱̘̲̯ͪ́̅̋̃̀̔̎͂͛ͧͭ̎ͬ͛ͮ̈ͦ͗̕a̹̖̙̠͚̜̣̥͇̎́̓̈̎̓ͪ͋̋̈̇ͮ̚͘͡ḩ̸̡͍̬͔͍̫̼͇̼̠ͥ̾ͣ̊ͅ ̙̬̫̣̼̩̲̲̱̔̿ͩ̔ͯ̑̅ͥͧ̍͐̄́ͯͫͨ̉͜͞ỵ̨̡̥͖̜ͯ̑̄ͦ́̌̆ͪͤ͘͡o̷̙͕̩̖̬͍̲̰̪̣͈̯̣͙̱̟̤̎̊̇ͣ̑̋̍̚͢û̬̪͉̲̜̅͒̎͂̀ͤ͊̉͗̾́̋ͣ̈͘͝͡ ̸̛̱̬͚̖̮̱̠͉̝̮͖̣͚ͩ̌̄ͦͩ͊̋̊̃ͨͥ̅̽͡͞ȃ̧̧̻̰͔̩̜̺͎̹͍̜͓͙̃ͤ̎̿̆ͮͤ̏̽̓̏̽ͦŗ̸̨͇̪̟͕̙̹̺͇̬̹͇̑ͨ͒͊ͭ̀͆̓̊̎ͩ̋ͧ̅̀͊e̷̛̝͎͍̹̳͕̞̯̯̺̻͍̭̐̎͋̒ͪ͌̎̾̕͟͠ͅ ̳̭̺͇̝̼͍ͩ͐ͨ̏ͬ̿̽̆̏̌̿̈ͯ́̍͝f̸̛̬̠̼̺̾̑̌̈̓̅̂̈́͌̄ͦ̀ͥ͊͟i̷̛̠̣̝̠̝̫̝̳̠͓͋ͤ̆̑̍̑̂͛̃̋ͦ̍ͮͮͯ͝͡n̨̧̡̜͈̱͔̭̯̞̰̝̻̹̜̓̍͋̂ͣ̉ͤ̏͢͜ͅe̸͚͕͔̜̦̥̦̣̮͎̠͔͍͉̤͔̦̝͍͋ͯͪͭͩ́ͯ͗͒́ͦͬ̆̏͟͠

 

‘Yeah, I’m probably fine’ Tyler thought to the voice that he started to hear a while ago….Why wasn’t he finding it strange to talk to it?  
.

In the end class went by and Tyler stood quiet through all. Tyler stood up and left the classroom taking out his schedule to find that he was heading towards his ‘curses and how to break them’ class. He took journey through the halls of the castle when someone bumped him hard enough to make him lose his footing and almost falling to the ground.

He saw Christopher smirking at him. ‘’Careful there, filthy thing’’ he said and continued walking with Pamela rolling her eyes at him walking close. A couple of moments later both Landon Lester and Mitchell McCarthy, the two tall sorcerers that used to follow Christopher around before made some rude gestures at them and Tyler straightened up.

As they were moving away Tyler reached for his wand with his eyes looking dark and dangerous, he pointed his wand towards the moving unsuspecting sorcerers but at that moment the voice of the Ceiba Tree coming from his wand. 

‘Child, what do you think you’re doing?!’ it asked and Tyler lowered his wand with a fear of embarrassment but then he looked at the wand with a bit of bitterness. ‘’You’ve been actually quiet lately’’ he said.

Tyler could almost imagine the tree sighing before it responded through the wand ‘My apologies, my child. I’ve been trying to help’ it responded. Tyler gritted his teeth hard and grumbled ‘’Helping, by leaving me all alone?’’ He bitterly said.

During vacation Tyler remembered that the Ceiba Tree told him that if he ever needed to talk to it they could talk through the wand. So Tyler once tried to make contact and they spoke for several minutes and then he did it a couple days later and then the next day. This went on until the night before his last day of camping with his parents just before the fire.

Then the Tree went quiet. Way too quiet. Tyler thought it might’ve left him alone but here it was speaking like nothing happened, trying to control him, to tell him what to do…it made him so mad.

‘I know what happened to your parents, and I know what you must be hurting but I’ve been trying to seek the help from some friends so they can tell me where they are’ 

‘’Some friends?’’ Tyler asked, his anger coming down for a few moments.

’Yes, as you might know, once the rumor started that I was cursed many trees started to grow far from me, I had no friends except the little ones‘ he explained… as the tree kept talking, Tyler’s anger went slowly down.

‘The ants, the worms, all the bugs that made their houses on my roots, they became my friends. They would thank me for using my roots as houses and my roots that spread all over the magical world serve then to travel great lengths without getting hurt… so they help me, they find information if I need it, if my power is not enough to see it for myself I can always trust in them to help me out’

‘’So they can tell you things?’’ Tyler asked interested.

‘Yes, they can tell me secrets and stories they heard while crawling around the ground on when they are adventuring into houses to seek for food for their queens and family. I asked them about your parents, Tyler Suarez’ the tree said.

‘’Do they know where they are?’’ Tyler asked anxiously.

‘I don’t have any concrete information, for now I only know that as we feared, it was the irregulars that you told me about last year the ones who took them from your home. I managed to speak with a butterfly that was flying around the window and she saw how they knocked your parents with a spell and poofed themselves out of the scene before their followers started with preparations to burn the house. She barely could make it out of there before the fire started’

Tyler sighed heavily; yes… as he feared it was Taurus and Mike the ones who took them. He wanted to be angry but the fear was greater right now.

‘Tyler, I will find them, I promise that I will let you know as soon as my little friends find something, if they see the irregulars or your parents we will know. My roots go from the length of the magical world to the mortal world. Please, believe in me’ the tree said. Tyler nodded fighting back the tears on his eyes.

He sniffled.

He looked up and muttered a thank you to the tree at which the tree just hummed and then the voice vanished, all trays of the presence of the tree leaving.

He knew his parents were taken by them. By now there were no doubts.

Tyler needed to do something.

.  
Christopher has been waiting for five minutes now, but if you were to ask him he would totally and horribly deny it but it was truth. He has been waiting in class for five minutes for Tyler to show up.

He wondered why he hasn’t show up, he did pushed him to the side a few minutes ago just to take a look at his schedule and find out what his next class was but he didn’t thought that might stop him for coming to class. Was he feeling that down after what happened to his parents that a little push was enough to stop him from going to class? Maybe it was that… maybe… he did make him feel bad.

Christopher felt a shot of pain on his chest along with a flutter of butterflies on his stomach. Was this shame?

Ridiculous, Christopher had never felt ashamed about anything in his life. He was always so sure of himself and ready to face anything that might come his way but between the thoughts of Tyler and Pamela rolling her eyes at him every five seconds he started to feel weird.

‘’You are being so stupid’’ Pamela said, annoying him.

He didn’t want to listen to her, he only wanted for Tyler to show up with that same stupid expression on his face like everything in the world was fine… that way he will be sure that Tyler would be alright, that way he might be able to stop worrying about him so much.

Wait… no… not worrying, he was just cautious! Yeah!

Christopher didn’t care what would happen to Tyler, of course he would never care about an irregular in any way, and he just wanted to know if the kid was stable enough because when an irregular is not stable they act out and they cause trouble.  
Yes that was it. Christopher was only worried about Tyler lashing out like the damn irregular he is.

But then Tyler showed up, his face looking kind of somber with there was a small smile on his face and the hint of a blush coming across his cheeks.

‘’Sorry, got held behind a little bit’’ he said to the teacher who smiled and motioned to the empty seat next to Christopher.

Christopher sighed in relief, the feeling of pain on his chest now leaving him but when Tyler sat down next to him and ignored him like he was nothing but a wall he felt the pain coming again and the flutter of butterflies doubling on his stomach.

Tyler took out his book as the teacher resumed the lesson. Christopher kept glancing at him every now and then trying not to be too obvious.

…Tyler’s face looked so pretty that day…

A warm feeling came towards Christopher’s face. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down as he wrote random symbols on his notebook.

No, Tyler Suarez is definitely not pretty! He is just a boy from school, an irregular and his enemy! Of course he couldn’t think that he could be pretty.

He started to concentrate on his work and only his work, he needed to learn how to break a frog skin curse after all.

After class he picked up his things and walked with Pamela close behind, she remained silent and he was glad for that, there was just a limited number of times he could take the poison from her words that as much as he hated them always found a way into his head.

Then he saw Tyler walking in front of them and he pondered if it was a good idea to bump him again to see his next class when he saw him jump into the arms of his friends.

‘’Two whole periods separated on Monday!’’ yelled Lucia hugging him. ‘’This fucking sucks!’’ she added. Tyler laughed that damn, damn laugh and nodded. ‘’But we have herbs and then potions and medicines together!’’

‘Bingo’ Christopher thought as he came close and got ready to shot some insults at them.

‘’Save it, idiot’’ Pamela said grabbing his arm and taking him forward.

‘’Pamela?! What’s the big idea?’’ he asked when they were far enough from anyone as they kept walking the halls.

‘’You get me so angry!’’ she said. ‘’Bothering the irregular like you don’t care about him. When are you going to stop acting like a child?’’

‘’I do not care about him! I told you this several times already’’

‘’Just fucking save it, Christopher. I’m sick of looking at you to ask a question and then see you looking at him like he has the whole universe on his eyes’’

Christopher blushed and he blushed hard!

‘’Stop that. I do not care about him, I don’t like him’’ Christopher tried to walk forward.

‘’Haven’t you ever wondered that it might be alright?’’ Pamela said making him stop. ‘’Liking him, you know he is an idiot but he is kind and caring… Maybe that’s what you need’’ she said.

Christopher knew she was trying to help; she really did tried, all the time, which was the thing he liked about her, she always tried with him, she doesn’t lose hope on him but on this matter she must learn that is hopeless.

‘’I can’t like him, I won’t allow myself to like him’’ he said his words breaking a little bit on his voice but making his declaration clear.

Pamela’s face twisted on a scowl and she walked past him. ‘’Don’t hurt yourself by being this stupid then’’ she said and went away.

Christopher sighed and looked around for a bit, he didn’t found anyone so he took out the device that Tyler gave him last term and muttered the spell to make it work. He put it on in his ears and walked towards class listening to a song.  
.

Tyler spend the herbs class learning about how to taunt a fire tulip that it gets angry enough to light up it petals and use it as a source of light on emergencies. He succeeded making his plant angry by telling him that the one next to him was prettier and probably best behaved, that made the plant fire up and a great orange light came out of it.

With a couple laughs and some Mario Brothers references from Lucia, he earned some points for himself.

Going out of class they found the Luciferus cousins who also complained that they were separated classes and Tyler told them about what the tree had told him.

‘’So it’s confirmed’’ Alex whispered among them. ‘’Yes, they were taken alive and the tree is trying to find out more’’ Tyler whispered back. Lucia nodded a bit ‘’Then we will have to wait for information’’ she said.

‘’And then what?’’ asked Winn. ‘’It’s not like we can go out of school to investigate’’ he said not to bring them down but as a matter of fact. Winnifred nudged him a bit. ‘’We will find a way’’ she declared.

After their first Potions and Medicines class they all headed quickly to their favorite class, Spells with Mr. Lopez.

They ran through the halls until they reached the classroom and saw the young man on his desk reading a book. He looked calm and content, his black hair neatly cut and a red cape with stars like a red galaxy on his shoulders over his white long sleeved shirt and his black pants. 

‘’Well, well, well if it isn’t the trouble squad’’ he said when he looked at him and quickly put his book down to greet them with a hug. ‘’I’m so glad you came to join me this year’’ he smiled. 

‘’Mr. Lopez! 

The kids went to greet their teacher with cheery expressions on their faces and he greeted them back with the same kind of expression.

For a second Tyler looked around and saw that there were a few students already in class, he looked at the clock on the wall and notice that class was about to start in just a couple minutes and he couldn’t help but wonder. ‘’Where is the rest of the class?’’  
And then Mr. Lopez’ face went a little bit sad he sighed a bit and looked at the class. ‘’This is the rest of the class’’ he said.

The squad’s collective faces went from happy to a mixture of surprise and worry. ‘’What?’’ asked Alex looking at the whole class and he quickly counted everyone. There were only around 70 students on class sitting scattered across the class.  
‘’How can this be all? We were almost two hundred last year?’’ Alex asked to nobody in particular.

It was until then when Tyler realized. At the entrance ceremony there was a great lack of second year students and on the boat as well, he saw a bunch of third years, fourth, fifth and sixth years and even the new students were numerous but as for the second year students.

There was just a few scattered around talking to each other or sitting by themselves.  
‘’You see, after what happened last year, a bunch of parents felt like this place wasn’t fit for their children anymore’’ Mr. Lopez said with his expression growing a tad sad.

There was a question on that statement that Tyler felt at the back of his mind but at the moment the bell rang and they went find some seats around the middle of the class.

They exchanged some worried looks with a few students. Before sitting, Tyler was able to see Christopher on the seat behind him looking at him with an unusual hateful glare. Sure he was always looking at Ty like he hated him but this glare felt different.

Almost… possessive?

He tried to brush it up as class began.

‘’Welcome, to second year spells. All of you already know me so there’s no need for introductions. First let me address the elephant in the room’’ the teacher started while walking from his desk to the middle of the class.

‘’Many of your classmates won’t be returning with us this year, those are indeed unfortunate news but as we miss them we need to remember that life goes on. They will find a place that fits better for them and there is nothing wrong with that, people make their choices and we let them even if it might hurt. We move on and we start all over’’ he said and raised his face with a straightforward smile.

‘’Now! We begin our second year and we have many things that we need to catch up. I trust each and one of you finished your assignments on elemental spells over the break’’ he walked back to his desk while on the chalkboard behind him a piece of chalk floated by itself and wrote ‘Secondary Elemental Spells’ 

The teacher took out a book and started to search for something, it was at this moment of distraction when Tyler finally heard the low growl from the boy behind him.

‘’You know this is all your fault, right?’’ Christopher said and continued before Tyler could ask him what he was yapping about now. ‘’The rest of the class wanted to come here but their parents didn’t felt safe with having them in this school with irregulars as their classmates’’ he started with a low whisper filled with hate. ‘’And yeah most of them are out of school thanks to the rioters taking them but you and your friend are still here, and this is the only class where the students diminished since last year… you think is a coincidence?’’ he kept growling.

Tyler was about to look at him with all the hate he could muster on a stare but at that moment Christopher’s mouth turned into a zipper and got closed.

Tyler turned to look at the teacher pointing his wand at Christopher. 

‘’Let me make this clear, Mr. York Foster. I will not tolerate any kind of attacks or bullying from any students to any students in my class. Are we clear?’’ he asked firmly with a tone that Tyler had never heard before, it was less of a teacher calling out a student and more of a parent calling out their child.

Tyler then remembered that Mr. Lopez was Christopher’s godfather. It seems like that gave him the right to call him out like this.  
Christopher got up from his desk and slammed his hands on it, he seemed utterly offended at something and glared profusely at the teacher who just rolled his eyes slightly and continued his talk.

‘’like I was saying’’ he kept going ignoring Christopher like a pro. ‘’It’s indeed regretfully that your classmates won’t be joining us this year but let’s not get discouraged, let’ take this chance to get stronger as a group… all of us’’ he said looking at Christopher for a moment as he sat down still glaring back.

Pamela who was looking a little bit bored or angry before all this now looked like a cat that ate a mouse as she smirked at Christopher.

‘’So let’s begin, shall we? I see that you all learned the basic elemental spells so we are going to concentrate on secondary elements. Can somebody tell me which elements are secondary elements?’’

As on cue, Winn raised his hand and waited patiently… well as patiently as his face would show as his leg was bouncing a little bit showing that he really wanted to answer this question.

‘’Alright, Winn’’ The teacher pointed to Winn and he got up with his serious expression but with sparkles on his eyes.

‘’Secondary elements derive from the main four ones, wind, fire, water and earth. These can be classified either as a mixture of two or more main elements, as a more powerful version of one or more main elements ’’ he explained, the teacher seemed ready to intervene and continue the explanation but Winn adjusted his glasses and kept going. ‘’Secondary elements are, lava, wood, electricity, ice, snow, metal, and it takes upon lesser elements like mud and leaves’’ he explained and finally satisfied with his answer he sat down.

Mr. Lopez gave out a small laugh. ‘’Very well, that’s 10 points for you, Mr. Luciferus’’ he said making Winn smile a bit. The teacher continued. ‘’As Winn pointed, we work with several types of spells and these are all level 5 and plus spells, meaning they will take a bit more effort to pull out’’ he waved his wand to the chalkboard and several pieces of chalk started to draw a symbol.

‘’Alright! First thing first! We will learn about the electric spell Elektrikae. First I need you all to learn the wand movement and-‘’ he was interrupted by a hand rising to the air with an eager might. ‘’Yes Miss Luna, what’s wrong?’’ He asked at Lucia who was raising her hand.

‘’Well, I was just wondering if there is any way we could learn the ice spell instead?’’ She asked fidgeting a bit. 

The teacher looked a little taken back by the request. ‘’You want to learn Glaciar first?’’ he asked. Tyler looked at Lucia for a bit and wondered why she requested the specific spell to go first on the list but then he remembered.

They needed to learn at least a few ice spells in order to try for the FrozenCoul team.

Realizing this Tyler raised his hand as well. ‘’Yes! It would be great to learn that one, or maybe Glacia or Snowder’’ Tyler suggested as well as he read about a couple ice and snow spells beforehand.

Alex then got up as well. ‘’Yeah, it’s going to be pretty hot soon so we would like something that can help us cool down’’ he grinned. Winnifred also got up. ‘’And we can use it on defense class and I think we might learn a few potions that need a quick cool-down on potions class as well’’ she suggested and finally Winn added one more thing. ‘’It shouldn’t be any problems since it’s on the list of spells that we need to learn anyways’’ he said from his seat.

Around the rest of the class seemed equally curious at their actions and interested on learning the spell as well the only person who was protesting was Christopher but since his mouth was kept shut by the zipper spell the only thing that could be heard were his mumbling moans.

Mr. Lopez finally laughed out loud for a few seconds. ‘’Alright, alright, no need to keep inventing excuses. I know many of you want to try for the team this year, so let’s change the program a bit and learn ice spells, alright?’’ he said making them blush as their obvious lie was found.

‘’So! Let us begin’’ he said as the circle that was drawn before on the chalkboard changed into a different one with the title ‘ice’ on the top.  
.  
After class a bunch of kids came out with cold hands and a few frozen nails all blowing on their hands to keep them warm. Tyler was among those who spell could not work properly and got his hand feeling like he dipped it on icy cold water.

‘’Does it still hurt?’’ Alex asked looking at Tyler blowing on his hands. ‘’Not anymore, they are just unpleasingly cold’’ he said. Alex took his hands and blew a little bit on them. ‘’You are right! They are cold’’ he grinned a bit. Tyler felt like his whole body was hot now.

‘’You guys are gross!’’ came the voice from Christopher behind them who took their hands apart yanking them violently with his hands. Tyler groaned ‘’Well, look who found his voice’’ he said shooting back at him.

‘’Go to hell!’’ Christopher said as he kept walking away.

‘’With you here, I’m already there!’’ he shot back and they could only hear an annoyed gasp coming from him as he kept walking away.

Pamela passed them by smiling and gave them thumbs up.

Honestly she was as confusing as Christopher.  
.

During lunchtime Tyler was able to get a glimpse on the new students, somehow it seemed like their table was being left aside apart from the ones around them. Tyler wondered for a bit what that was all about as he watched Zacharias helping his sister sit down on the table and placing the food in front of her. She smiled and started to eat next to him looking happy and content with the food.

Tyler kind of wanted to go there and sit with them but the sudden appearance and approach from the headmaster stopped him from telling his friends about the idea.

‘’Tyler! Just the kid I wanted to see’’ the headmaster said getting close to their table making them all get up on respect. ‘’Is there something wrong?’’ Tyler asked.

The headmaster denied with the head a smile appearing on his face. ‘’I received notice about the visits to Brighton we talked about before’’ he said making Tyler smile excitedly. ‘’Yeah?!’’ he asked a little bit too eager but the headmaster found it endearing and kept going. ‘’You will be informed about it on the last class of the day but rest assured, you and Husky will be able to meet without any problem’’ he said.

Tyler, overwhelmed with emotion hugged the headmaster making him laugh he suddenly realized what he’d done and broke apart quickly. ‘’I’m s-sorry Sir! I’m just too happy! And… and thank you very much!’’ He mumbled. ‘’Don’t worry about it, I just wanted to inform you so we can all see that smile on your face again’’ he said earnestly. Tyler smile got kinder and he bowed to the headmaster. ‘’Thank you’’ he said.

The headmaster waved his goodbye and walked away from the dining hall.

Tyler sat back down. ‘’What is our last class today?’’ he asked checking the schedule and notice a class they’d never seen before.  
‘’Mortal what?’’ he asked.  
.  
‘’Mortal Sensitivity Class’’ Mr. Roy Rogers, the P.E. teacher announced writing on the chalkboard. ‘’Welcome all! On this class we will learn about mortal culture and their customs as a part of our new program on mortal sensitivity that was just added to our curriculum’’ he announced proudly.

‘’Great! Now we get another class and is a useless one thanks to you’’ said Christopher from behind him.

‘’Why are you sitting so close to me on all of my classes?!’’ Tyler asked annoyed making Christopher roll his eyes.

After the events of last year Tyler wished for the senate to help Magicals understand the mortal world a little better. This caused for the senate to review several ways to make people learn more about the mortal world and they reached the conclusion that a class on mortal sensitivity and customs could help Magicals understand their non-magical brothers a little bit better.

Mr. Roy Rogers, being the only mortal teacher at school, was assigned to teach the class right away. He looked happy to be teaching a bunch of kids about non-magical customs but the rest of the class didn’t seemed very pleased to be there.

As it was pointed by a sorcerer, whose name was Jude Jupiter, at the back of the class; when he yawned out loudly. ‘’Why must we learn about mortal stuff anyways? It’s so damn boring’’ he said as some agreed with him.

‘’They don’t know magic and they don’t know about our existence whatsoever, so why must we learn about them?’’ asked a Witch by the name of Charice Lane. ‘’it just seems kind of pointless’’ pointed another sorcerer, Floyd Muñoz. 

The teacher sighed ‘’You see, this is exactly the kind of prejudice that causes bad things to happen later. this is the same prejudice that causes magical people to go against mortals without mercy and it causes for people to go against irregulars as well… and you know how dangerous those kind of actions can be’’ he said.

Tyler looked at him a little bit weird, he didn’t know if he was trying to convince his classmates to listen or causing a bigger stir against them.

‘’Prejudice turns to ignorance, ignorance turns to violence and violence turns to more violence. That’ is the truth for our history, both magical and mortal, it is important to know about mortals as much as magicals not to be warded of them but to respect our cultures’’ the teacher said.

Charles Trico, the chubby boy whose spells didn’t work as effectively most of the time raised his hand. ‘’I understand that we can learn their culture and understand them a little bit better, but how can they learn about us? How can we interact if our worlds are so apart?’’ he asked without any particular malice on his voice, it seemed like he did wanted to know and learn.

The teacher nodded. ‘’You are right, according to magical law, the magical people is to hide their identity to mortals except for a few selected. But to show that we can coexist as siblings both magical and not magical we are going to have a few visits to the mortal world during this class’’ he announced and started to draw on the chalkboard.  
‘’Visits, like field trips?’’ asked one student.

‘’Oh, where are we going then?’’ asked another a little bit more excited.

‘’Wait, so we get to get out of school? Score! For a prize like that I can learn about boring mortals’’ came one more and each and each came with voices sounding more interested than annoyed as they were before.

Finally the teacher finished the drawing on the chalkboard; it was a rough image of the school with another different looking building under it. 

‘’As you all know the meta-world and the mortal world share the same space but on different dimensions. But what some of you might not know is that at the other side of the Meta world, on the same space of this school exists another school called Brighton’’ Mr. Rogers pointed to the drawing of the other building.

‘’Every week, Tuesdays and Fridays we will be going to a little excursion during class and we will be taking our lunch there with the students of Brighton, that way you guys will get the chance to interact with mortal children, children that are just like you… well except from the magic’’ he smiled causing a little bit of conversation between the class, Ty was happy to hear that most of the conversation was from interested students and excited hushes between them.

The teacher settled everyone down. ‘’ alright, alright, I know it’s quite interesting but there are a few rules we need to set. First of all, no magic! It goes without saying but as per magical law the secret needs to be protected. Second of all, we will be telling them that we belong to a school named Nightshade, which will be a mock school that it is said to be deep in the woods.  
Tyler remembered then a story that people used to tell around town. 

The story of an old school that used to operate deep in the woods on the island where Brighton was situated, the tales would say that witches lived there and he heard that a common bravery test for new students at Brighton was to venture deep in the woods to try to find the school.

If the school was ever real was of no knowledge of Tyler.

‘’Third, try to be polite! We will be connecting with mortals, mortal customs are different and their way of speaking is different as well, we are there to learn not to fight or cause them any trouble. Are we clear?’’ the teacher asked and the students nodded.  
Christopher, of course, raised his hand. ‘’But what if they are trying to harm us? What if they are dangerous and turn to be witch hunters like mortals were years ago? I mean there is a reason we went into hiding on this Meta-world’’ he asked looking irritated.  
‘’Don’t be ridiculous Mr. Foster, there hasn’t been any witch hunters for centuries now’’ he said dismissing him which made him roll his eyes in annoyance.  
.  
The rest of the class they discussed many terms and slangs the mortals had, Tyler and Lucia had difficulties trying to tell the teacher that no, it was not ‘hip’ to say that something was ‘hip’ in a conversation and that groovy and tubular were not actual words people used anymore… or ever.

Tyler briefly wondered just how much time had the teacher spent on the meta-world if he didn’t know all of this already, part of him wondered if he was just messing with the students but he dismissed the thought.

After all, his thoughts were filled with the good news that he will be able to see Husky pretty soon.

He kept jumping up and down skipping on his steps as they walked back to the dorms. They waved goodbye to the girls and went to the boys dorm rooms where a bunch of third years were reading around the fire and a couple of first years were looking around with interest.

Tyler quickly noticed the Bennett twins sitting on the same bench next to the wall; Zachary was reading a book to his sister as she heard attentively. There was something sweet about him taking care of her like this but there was something sour about his expression about anything else in the room. It seemed like he hated the people he was around and sure his face didn’t show much but Tyler only had to see his eyes to look at the seemingly hatred that was hidden there.

Tyler decided not to approach them.

They climbed to the dorms. Winn walked to a door in front of their room and announced without much care that this was ‘his room’ and got inside promising that they will meet in a while to take a bath, then homework and dinner. Tyler wondered why they must wait for him for a bath but forgot about it when he came to the room and quickly looked inside the pocket pack the parchment that he used to communicate with Husky when they were on different dimensions.

Sure he could use the energy spell Lucia created but he didn’t know if rules on Brighton allowed cellphones or if they had different schedules and he was still in class so this was the safest choice. For a split second he wondered if Husky even grabbed the parchment and took it to class but he knew that Husky never left his classes without that piece of parchment.

He wrote ‘Ya there?’ and the letters staid for a while before disappearing and sooner than he expected a few scribbles appeared and then the words ‘Hey there! How was the first day?’ he asked. A wave of tranquility filled Tyler. His friend was there for him, he could listen to him at any time; he felt so blessed to have him and took a deep sigh before writing all the things he did today.  
After a while Alex, who’d been lying on his bed for all this time got up at the knock of the door and in came Winn looking kind of annoyed. ‘’Are you alright?’’ Asked Alex looking at his sour face, ‘’Fine, just that I got the same asshole as roommate again’’ he grumbled.

‘’Who is it?’’ asked Tyler finally looking up from his parchment but Winn just waved his hand in dismissal, ‘’Never mind that, so are you guys ready?’’ he asked and Tyler finally noticed he was carrying a small basket with a towel, soap and a couple of bottles with liquids inside them.

‘’Yes! Just let me grab my things’’ said Alex walking to the trunk that was next to his bed and taking a small basket filling it up with things. Clean clothes and self-cleaning supplies, ‘’Are you guys taking a shower?’’ Tyler asked. ‘’Yeah, all the younger boys usually take a bath at this time because if you wait too long then the older guys come around and they bother us too much’’ Winn explained. 

Tyler thought briefly that they might be a room with several showers and he then imagined all the older boys just bothering the young ones, it happened on regular schools so it was not so weird it could happen at this one as well. 

He shrugged, sure it was a bit embarrassing to go to the same shower room as the rest of the boys and his friends as well but he had to do it before at his other school and if the showers were separated then there was nothing to be worried about.

So Ty went to his own trunk and even thought he was missing a basket like his friends he wrapped his clean clothes and cleaning supplies on a sports bag that the Husk’s bought him and took it with him. His friends directed him down the stairs and they took a left to a hallway where big windows were letting the sun come in and they were able to look through the windows at a beautiful, big indoor warden with several plants and flowers scattered all over the place it even had a few ponds and an artificial river with running water where a few frogs and fishes were swimming. Tyler even saw a couple of small birds on small trees but he could not hear any sounds coming from it. 

‘’Why is there no sound coming from the garden?’’ he asked. 

‘’It’s protected, the sound of the water, frogs and summoned birds could be too much for some students who are sensitive to sounds while studying so they enchanted the place so that no sound can come out. The garden is communal you are able to come in whenever you want, if you request it from Mrs. Hallow, you can be allowed a small patch of soil where you can grow your own plant of choice’’ Winn explained as they walked the long hallway.

‘’Ah, so those are not real birds?’’ he asked as Winn mentioned ‘summoned’ when he talked about the birds.

‘’No, most of the birds are for decoration, they are summoned through spells and are not living creatures although they behave like such. The frogs are real though, they are the familiars of some students as well as some fishes, ah that reminds me there are some real birds though! But they are familiars of some students’’ he said looking at the windows as well.

‘’If I can’t find mine it’s probably because they are there just resting with some other familiars or summoned birds’’ Mentioned Alex. 

They kept the walk until they reached a large door; Tyler got nervous for a second but brushed it off thinking that it was normal among boys to share the same shower room, it he gets too uncomfortable he can just take the sports bag inside the shower and change there.

They entered and Tyler’s jaw dropped so much it seemed that it was ready to fall from his skull.   
It was a communal bath.

A great big steaming bath, Japanese onsen style with steaming hot water and a small waterfall coming from rocks at a wall at the far end of the room, several boys from first and second year walking up and down wearing only towels to cover them and taking them off before going into the water. They looked all so comfortable… but meanwhile Tyler was all red and hot in the face and it was not because of the steam.

His friends didn’t seem to mind at all and walked towards a screen door where Tyler followed quickly covering his face as much as he could and staying as close as he could.

They entered a small room with lockers. ‘’Just pick one and take the key with you’’ Alex explained opening the locker in front of him and starting to put his things inside. Without hesitation he started ot undress.

The sound coming out of Tyler’s mouth could also be mistaken as the sound of a dying moaning deer in distress; he looked in front to a locker and tried to calm his racing heart as he heard the ruffling sound of clothes near him.

‘’Are you alright?’’ asked Winn who took the locker next to him and by the sounds of it was also taking his clothes off.

Ty tried not to look, he really did but at the corner of his eye he could still see Winn so he opened the locker and buried his face there. 

‘’I-I’ve never… I mean I had! It just... it was not like this! Like the showers at my old school were separated and they were showers! Not a communal bath, and sure I’ve had to change but it wasn’t like it was showering with so many people in the same place! And I don’t know if it’s normal for magical folk but…’’

Tyler got stopped by a hand on his shoulder, he dared to get out of the locker and look at Winn who had a towel wrapped around him. Now that he was taller he looked even leaner than before, not much muscle but healthily thin at least.

Ty looked at him on the eye and a blur came running past them. ‘’Last one to the water has to swallow bat boogers!’’ he yelled and a splash of water was heard outside along with some groans and laughs from other boys.

Tyler could only see a freckled back on all that movement but that was enough to almost make him want to faint again.  
‘’That idiot never listens, you need to take a shower before you go to the water’’ Winn complained next to him making him turn to him quickly. ‘’W-what was that?’’ Tyler asked quickly trying to look straight into his eyes and not somewhere else.

Winn smirked and pointed to a door he did not see at the end of the lockers. ‘’You know, you can just take a shower if you are so uncomfortable’’ he said.

Tyler looked at him for a moment and then at the door where the showers were and he smiled and then let out a breathy lough. Grabbing his stomach a bit Tyler muttered a thanks and Winn flicked his forehead. ‘’I told you before, didn’t I? you look just fine, stop comparing your body to everyone else’’ he said still smiling a half smile. Tyler nodded and started to take off his shirt he still felt out of place and a bit embarrassed but if Winn assured him that it was alright then it should be alright. 

Winn nodded satisfied and walked to the door that led to the showers. ‘’I will go ahead and take a quick one, you can just take one get dressed and leave I will explain everything to Alex’’ he said, and went through the door.

Tyler got undressed quickly and a small ghostly figure came from the ceiling. ‘’Nox… sorry I will not be taking a bath today so you can’t join me but I can give you a bath later tonight’’ he explained to the ghostly cat with several legs and eyes. Now that they were on the magical world Nox was able to take his real form and remain as a spidercat familiar.

The cat looked a bit disappointed but jumped from the spiderweb he was hanging on at the ceiling and stood patiently behind Tyler as he finished getting undressed and walked to the showers.

‘’Please don’t let it be communal showers’’ Tyler pleaded silently as he walked inside and to his relief they were individual showers each with big enough blue curtains that could cover their entire bodies. He sighed in relief and went towards one at the far end, he could hear the water of another shower going off and he guessed it was Winn.

Soon he heard the other shower go off and the person leave, Tyler was able to take a shower finally and stood there trying to figure which of the several valves could give him warm water, in the end he opened a red and a blue one that gave him some equal parts of freezing and scolding water but after a bit it was pleasant enough to get clean.

He finished as his cat made another web outside the shower to wait for him and then dropped from the ceiling to walk next to him. Ty, wrapped on a towel and smiling, walked with Nox to the lockers.

And then Nox hissed forward and again the annoying voice of Christopher came to bother him.

It was a gasp at first, something like a surprise choking sound and then a ‘’And what the fuck are you doing here?’’ from Christopher.

Tyler looked at him annoyed for a second and he swears he tried not to look at him but Christopher was there just wrapped on a towel that and his white skin that might be so perfect actually had several beauty spots all over it, almost like the freckles on Alex but not as many. There were just a handful but that handful were scattered all around a well worked body and are boys his age allowed to look like that? I mean sure Alex had muscles but this boy was like an athlete!

Tyler looked at his face instead and tried to remain looking at his blue eyes that were looking mad but also traveled through Tyler’s body and an angry blush painted both their faces. Tyler covered his body with both his hands, feeling more self-conscious that he’d ever felt before.

‘’I’m allowed to shower, aren’t I?’’ he said sarcastically and walked past him to his locker to retrieve his things. He considered running towards the showers again to get dressed. ‘’Of course! But coming from you, you probably need like ten showers before the stench of irregular failure can even get masked’’ Christopher shot walking near him, Tyler didn’t want him to be close he could almost feel the voice coming into his mind again so he took looked straight at his face and wore the angriest face he could muster. 

‘’Ahora, oyeme, maldito’’ he started in Spanish and pointed his finger at him but he didn’t account of how close his body was as Tyler’s finger got pressed against Christopher’s chest and they both felt an electricity on their body that they haven’t ever felt before. Tyler took out his finger and Christopher backed off.

Tyler looked at him and Christopher looked angry. ‘’Ah, gross, are you checking me out Suarez?’’ he asked angry and with a mocking tone on his voice. ‘’Gross! Gross! The irregular is checking me out, that is just perfect, just what I fucking needed’’ he complained overly dramatically.

Tyler puffed his cheeks looking embarrassed and angry, he took his things from his locker and slammed the door and then went again to look at him in the eyes. ‘’Please! As if you’d be so lucky’’ he scoffed.

‘’What?’’ Christopher asked looking a bit taken back.

‘’You heard me! You are… you are just mean, and awful, and gross to me and my friends and an asshole to everyone when things don’t go your way, you have talent singing and studying but you use it to be an absolute prick to everyone. And I… And I’m better than you!’’ Tyler declared right there. ‘’Better than me?’’ Christopher looked mad at him. 

‘’Yes! I’m a better person who deserves a good person in his life, so believe me I would not, for a second! Would be checking someone like you, any day of my life! You gross’’ Tyler took a step forward. ‘’Self-centered’’ He took another one. ‘’Baby –antrum-asshole, like you!’’ he said finally getting in the face of Christopher who was taller than him but looked so small right now. ‘’So get over yourself, because I would never be with you’’ Tyler said on a lower, mocking voice.

Then a few claps came from the door that led to the bath, they both looked and there were several students, Alex and Winn included looking at the scene clapping at Tyler. ‘’Way to go, Suarez!’’ ‘’Yes! That had to be said!’’ came some cheers and Tyler got actually shy about it. He looked at Christopher who looked so red and so angry he just flipped them all off and walked towards the showers.

When he left Tyler looked at the crowd and smiled a bit. ‘’C-can I get changed now?’’ he asked making them laugh a bit but they actually left and he was there feeling a bit bad about what he just said to Christopher but then… the voice told him…  
Fuck it!  
More clearly than he has ever heard it before and he shrugged, got dressed and got out of there.  
.  
The very next day Tyler looked a little bit tired, how could he not if he slept next to his crush… well not exactly next to him but his bed was next to his and he was able to look at him gently snoring for a bit and he was unable to calm his heart at the proximity and the idea that it was just the two of them in that dorm room.

So sure, he took a while to fall asleep but on the morning he tried to get up take some coffee for breakfast and get to class.  
It felt really odd, last year he was able to take breakfast at home and just a couple of times he was able to catch a piece of toast when he arrived early at school when the boat would go out earlier than normal. Now he was able to have breakfast with his friends every morning but he was not able to fully enjoy it knowing the grim situation he was at.

Dinner was interesting last night, they all managed to cramp together as it seemed like the teachers took their dinners somewhere else and many students used this time to joke around and sit whenever they pleased, some older guys bothering the new kids and some third years sitting with fourth years all making the space a little bit more limited with the mess it was.  
But it was interesting nonetheless; it even took Tyler’s mind out of things for a while.

Today he walked to divination class where the teacher, Mrs. Briseyda Broom, asked for him to sit at the front and although she did not mentioned it she seemed like she was deeply in distress about what happened to him and his parents. 

She didn’t say anything though; she looked at him a little bit sad but started class as they concentrated on their tarot cards. Tyler tried to get a reading on his situation but was unable to actually get any results, it seemed like his deck was not in the talking mood today. He sighed at the end of class and walked out before the teacher could mention anything to him.

It was weird, he didn’t want to hear anything regarding his parents today, he just wanted the classes to fly by so they could go to see Husky.

Their curses and how to break them teacher, Romario Romero also teaches them about history although even he found the subject to be a bit boring.

The only plus of this class it was the fact that Winn shared it with him made it a bit better. Winn seemed to be the only student who liked History and they were reading today more about one of the greatest witches that ever lived Merlina Oz, who created access to the Meta-world so that magicals could escape persecution from the mortals’ years ago.

‘’…But of course, the meta-world was a different dimension and was untamed for our needs, some even said that it had a toxic atmosphere but Merlina was able to sustain the world so it could be fit for us. She created a hat that was filled with so many spells and runes that it was used as a vessel to dissipate the toxic atmosphere and this hat was then known as the first great treasure of the meta-world’’ the teacher explained with a yawn. He close the book and rubbed his eyes and directed his voice to the class.

‘’Alright, even this is an important class so I’m forced to ask questions to see if you had been paying attention. Can someone tell me three great treasures of the meta-world?’’  
It was pretty obvious that Winn was the one who raised his hand with sparks on his eyes. ‘’Alright Mr. Luciferus, go ahead’’ the teacher said.

‘’There are seven great treasures of the meta-world, these objects are able to do things that normal magical people cannot, they were created by many witches and wizards and are used to sustain many parts of the world. As mentioned before, the Hat of Merlina Oz manages to swallow all the toxic atmosphere from the meta-world and it resides on the tallest tower of Crystal Central City protected by many SMACK agents and security measures. Other three are for example the Dragon Scepter that resides on the orient that protects the dragons of the world and is able to control them. The Wooden Spoon which is the only object able to create food out of nothing and the twin wands from the north that allows to teach a technique of dual wand wielding’’ he explained and Mr. Romero, knowing better didn’t say anything because he knew that Winn was going to keep explaining more. ‘’The seven objects are treasured and protected, they had been added all through history to the collection of treasured objects and each serve to sustain the meta-world if they were to disappear the meta-world would collapse’’ he finished and sat down.  
Mr. Romero let out a chuckle. ‘’Twenty points to you’’ he said and continued class.

Tyler read the list of objects and one called his attention. ‘The black unicorn wand; a wand with black magic so dark that allows you to perform an art to revive the death… the wand was created by Elizabeth the Twisted and resides on an unknown location powering the meta-world as a negative source of energy that is also necessary to this world’  
Again that name… Elizabeth the Twisted, just… why was she always popping up?

Finally it was time for lunch, Ty and his friends were standing outside the school and they walked towards the forest with Mr. Rogers and Rory leading the way. The whole class with the class for first years was there walking together until they reached a good enough distance and Rory addressed them all. ‘’Alright! Remember the rules! If you disobey we will have you clean up the toilets for the rest of the term!’’ Rory said a little bit too serious and that made Tyler believe he was being serious.

Rory waved his wand and their uniforms changed in appearance, instead of the black robes and golden yellow bowties with black stripes they were now wearing normal short sleeved button up white shirts with a different logo on their chests with the picture of a plant and the name Nightshade. Black skirts for the girls and black pants for the boys and no hats or any other extra designs.  
‘’Normal enough?’’ Rory asked to Tyler and Lucia and they nodded with a smile.

Rory nodded satisfied and casted a spell with ease, a big circle surrounded them and it started to flow and float upwards and in a second they crossed dimensions.

They were on the mortal world.

Tyler looked up to the now blue sky without a cloud in sight, he could smell the forest and the salt of the sea near them. This smelled like the mortal world.

Now it was the turn of Mr. Rogers to talk ‘’Alright children, remember, you will have groups of five! Never separate from your group, that is crucial! We will have lunch with the students and then you will join them for activities outside, take this time to talk to them and learn from them, I expect an essay at the end of next week with your findings’’ he said causing a groan from all of them. ‘’Quiet! Now let’s go!’’ he ordered and lead them through the woods.

As they came out from the woods they found a small black gate that was open to let them inside, there was a big field similar to the one at their school but the school itself was not a castle but more like a mansion, it was a beautiful white mansion with three stories, big white pillars sustaining balconies over the steps of the school and bushes with roses around the windows.

The students looked around all interested as they were led through the inside where a great hallway with a big staircase surprised them all. They, however walked past the staircase and were led through another hallway at the far end where at the end they found a big wooden door. They opened it and they could hear the last words from a speech.

‘And here they are!’ said a female voice as they came inside what it looked like the dining room. Several round tables scattered all around the place with students looking at them clapping respectfully. They looked around for a second before the person who had a podium at the end of the room urged them to come forward.

‘Welcome!’ she started. ‘My name is Celestina Brighton and this academy has been led by my family for seven generations. We are so pleased to reassume our relations with Nightshade, please feel at home and sit with our students, feel free to ask for anything and lunch will be given in a few’’ the old woman said smiling with an eager pleasing face.

Rory and Mr. Rogers went to introduce themselves and they instructed the students to find a seat with some of the mortal students.

Then it came the anxiety; Tyler quickly looked for Husky, he told him before that he was going to be here for sure, so now he just needed to find him, but he had a hard time trying with all the students from Brighton looking at them with curious stares and odd looks.

He looked around trying to find him while he asked his friends ‘Do you see him?’ but Lucia tried to stare at everyone and couldn’t find him. ‘’There are lots of people here, and our school is still moving around, I don’t know if I can find him’’ Lucia said.  
But then there was the voice he knew. ‘’Ty!’’ yelled someone from a table near the entrance. Tyler broke through some students until he was finally able to look at his friend.  
He wondered how he could’ve missed him, Husky was by far taller than the other ones and the red blazer uniform looked by far better on him than on anyone around. He waved at him and then got up from the chair and charged towards him.

Without hesitation, Ty charged back almost running towards him and they found each other in the middle of the room. As usual Husky hugged him like he was the most precious thing in the world and lifted him up from the ground spinning him a couple of times. Tyler erupted in laughter. ‘’Let me down, let me down’’ he pleaded between laughs and Husky complied.

‘’Sorry, I’m just so happy to see you’’ he said grabbing his face and examining it thoroughly ‘’Are you alright? Are you hurt?’’ He asked worried Tyler laughed a bit. ‘’I’m okay!’’ he responded.

They stared into each other and Tyler couldn’t hear any voices in his head, he hugged him and it was only a day but he missed him so much that it seemed almost laughable.

And a laugh came from behind as Lucia and the squad came with grinning faces. Husky quickly greeted them, without that much enthusiasm as Tyler of course, and they went to the table.

As soon as they sat a girl who was at the same table looked at Tyler with a weird look and latched onto Husky’s arm who seemed unfazed by the act. Tyler sat and blinked a couple of times and tilted his head at the girl. ‘’Hi’’ he said and directed his sight at Husky. ‘’…Friend of yours?’’ He asked and Husky seemed to finally notice the girl and looking a bit annoyed and pulled his arm away a little bit rudely.

‘’Not at all…’’ he said and then looked straight at her. ‘’Buzz off’’ he said on a cold tone Tyler had never heard before and the girl scoffed looking offended and walked away. He looked back at them looking a bit ashamed. ‘’Sorry, people had been following me since yesterday and I don’t have the patience for it anymore’’ he said.

Tyler patted his head. ‘’It’s alright, if you find it uncomfortable you should tell them’’ he said making Husky lift up his sight quickly and looking like a happy pup.

‘’So, so, we are going to eat, and then I can show you around, and then we can go outside to play, and then I can show you guys the dorms, and then, then’’ he started to list several things to do as a few servers started to give them trays of food. Tyler laughed as well with the rest of the squad.

‘’Alright, calm down Husk, we will have time after lunch’’ Smiled Lucia as she started with her food.

Tyler smiled and looked at his friends for a few seconds, there was something in there that he didn’t like Lucia seemed to be the only one to actually smile at Husky, the rest seemed… a little bit awkward around him. Winn and Winnifred were staying oddly quiet, and well it was normal for Winn to stay quiet but Winnifred who was a talking machine staying quiet for so long was weird.

Now Alex looked straight serious and kind of bothered at the moment. Not like he was necessarily angry at Husky but whenever he started talking about something he would force a smile, the kind of smile you would do just to be polite, with your lips pursed on a straight upwards line and the smile wouldn’t reach your eyes; that kind of smile.

Tyler wanted to ask about it but it seemed that ever since they met there was something between Husky and Alex, like they didn’t like each other very much. It was more noticeable coming from Alex but now that he thought about it every time Ty would mention Alex to Husky he would look kind of annoyed and would try to change the subject quickly.

…Tyler couldn’t recall any fights between them but that was a common issue with them, that’s why Tyler hasn’t told Husky that he liked Al.

He might want to look into things more thoroughly later but right now it was time to eat. He stared at a beautiful plate of ravioli with red sauce and some salad and ate it found it absolutely delicious. It seemed like people at this school really took it seriously when it came to good food.

They tried to pick up some conversation. Winn finally spoke and asked about classes around here making Husky complain that math was way harder and he had to pick up an elective arts class by the end of the week.

‘’I might go for music, though. I’m still learning with to play the guitar so it can help me improve’’ he mentioned shoving pasta into his mouth.

Ty was about to mention something when two people sat at the table, people whom he was equally surprised and displeased to see. 

‘’The fuck are you doing here, Suarez?’’ asked the first one.

‘’I thought you were shipped overseas’’ said the second one.

Tyler looked back at them sighing in a tired manner. ‘’Paul, Pietro, gross to see you again’’ he said sarcastically to his old school bullies.

They both looked oddly at Tyler like they weren’t expecting the comeback but Tyler wasn’t the same kid they threw to the water at the piers of Seagull city before. He knew how to swim now, both literally and figuratively, he knew how to face people like them, he knew how to confront people like them and he knew, most of all, how to beat people like them.

‘’What are they doing here?’’ Tyler asked to Husky without really acknowledging them much.  
Husky shrugged. ‘’Somehow they followed me here’’ he rolled his eyes.

‘’Whatever; what are you doing here is the question’’ Paul tried again and he got ignored… again.

‘’Care to introduce us to these douches?’’ Lucia smiled. Tyler sighed. ‘’Guys these are my old bullies, Paul and Pietro, two people with sticks so far up their colons that they are basically puppets’’ he said making them all snicker.

‘’Watch it, Suarez, just because you have a new group of freaks with you doesn’t mean I’m still not onto you’’ Paul grumbled making Tyler’s smirk fall. 

Paul has been after his secret for a while, he experimented the first stages of him being magical before he went to school and learned how to control it, he wished he never had to see him again but having him here was a new problem for Ty.

‘’To answer your question, I crossed the sea but not overseas, and I study at Nightshade, not that is any of your business, now can you leave me and my friends alone?’’ Tyler asked him looking straight into his eyes.

‘’So you think you are though now?’’ asked Pietro who Tyler almost forgot was there. ‘’You might be a guest with the rest of your weird school in the woods but Brighton is not for people…’’ he looked up and down to Tyler. ‘’…Like you’’ he finished.

‘’People like what?’’ Asked Alex angrily; Pietro directed his sight ad him and was not impressed by his looks whatsoever. ‘’Weird people’’ he looked at Winn and Winnifred. ‘’Poor People’’ he looked at Lucia. ‘’And specially not stupid people, ‘’He looked at Alex.  
The whole squad got up and slammed their hands on the table.

‘’Guys… calm down’’ Tyler pleaded still with his sight on Paul. ‘’Remember the rules’’ he said and they all sat down.

Husky didn’t sat down, he looked so angry he seemed ready to snap their necks. Pietro leaned back on his chair not bothered by it ‘’Listen, if you are going to visit the school and try to be a part of us for whatever reason the headmistress had decided, we might as well treat you like one of us’’ he said.

Tyler finally stopped the staring contest with Paul and lifted an eyebrow. ‘’What do you mean?’’ he asked, his angry face still showing. 

‘’As you might know we have a little initiation around here, call it a rite of passing! If you can go to the woods reach the big clearing and come back before forty minutes we will accept you here. We might not even bother you while you come visit your dog friend’’ Pietro directed a glance at Husky on that last statement.

Tyler and the rest looked at each other and then they laughed a bit. Woods, Is that all? Man, if only they knew the things they have to go through at Diaz’ to fetch ingredients for potions and to train their familiars. Go to some clearing in the woods would be a piece of cake.

‘’Well, if it gets us to stop looking at your ugly faces while I come and visit my favorite person in the world’’ Tyler looked at Husky at that statement and that seemed to calm him down a bit. ‘’Then I guess I can take the challenge’’ He said. ‘’What about you guys?’’ he asked the rest.

Winn smiled and opened a book. ‘’I’m up for it, if I can stop looking at these trolls’’ Winnifred smirked. ‘’A walk on the woods? Count me in!’’ she said. ‘’I’m not scared of a challenge’’ Alex finally smiled with a glint on his eyes and Lucia got up and leaned forward on the table, almost touching his nose to Pietro’s ‘’Let me show you what poor people can do’’ and she sat back down leaving a very red and confused Pietro.

Husky smiled at the squad looking proudly at them and then glared at the two trolls. ‘’So, can we go back to our food now?’’ he asked them without any niceness on his voice. Paul scowled and left with Pietro.  
.

 

As they walked outside after lunch Husky was giving them the tour along with the explanation of the challenge of the woods. ‘’You are supposed to go there and grab one of the bottles buried on the roots of the big oak tree; you bring the bottle back and is over. I did mine yesterday, some older boys tried to mess with me and my group by wearing masks and staring from the woods but I could see that they were just messing around’’ he said as they walked together outside looking at the garden behind the school.  
‘’So it’s meant to scare the younger kids, right?’’ Alex asked.

‘’That’s right but since I’m a new student here they also applied the test to me. It was nothing really, just a normal valor quest’’ Husky shrugged.

‘’I guess that doesn’t sound very hard, but I have a feeling they might want to mess with us further than they did with you’’ Tyler guessed resting his chin on his hand thinking.

From the corner of his eye he saw Christopher approaching and he tried to ignore him but as usual he started the conversation. ‘’Well, give it to Suarez to cause a scene and then a fight when he meets a bunch of mortals’’ he mocked, Tyler rolled his eyes. ‘’What did those normal nobodies wanted, anyways?’’ asked Christopher. 

Tyler really didn’t have the time or the patience to deal with him right now so he handled it the best he could. He lied ‘’Oh you know, I was just so eager to impress them and let them think than I’m a geek that I got too nervous and now they think I’m a loser’’ he fake sighed.

‘’A what?’’ Christopher asked. ‘’A geek, is a mortal word for cool people. If you want to impress people you walk to them tell them you are a geek and then strike up conversation talking about you’’ he explained and looked at Lucia ‘’Right Lucia?’’ and she, catching up quickly, answered ‘’Oh yes! Totally, you should go and tell those kids there so you don’t blow it up like we did’’ she pointed to some older guys at a bench at the far part of the garden. Christopher just looked at them for a while and then walked away towards them.

Just then he noticed Pamela was behind Christopher. ‘’I’m guessing ‘geek’ is not a term for cool, right?’’ she asked raising an eyebrow. Tyler didn’t say anything and she smiled wickedly. ‘’Good, he deserves that shit’’ and she walked after him.

‘’So! Let’s meet up with those assholes!’’ he said while Lucia started to laugh at what just happened.

They walked out of the garden being very aware not to be found by Rory or Mr. Rogers. They reached the outskirts of the woods behind the school where the two bullies were chatting among themselves.

They noticed and smirked. Paul made a gesture pointing to the woods. ‘’Well go on, you have forty minutes, get to the clearing and bring back a bottle’’ he instructed.

‘’Be careful there’’ Pietro said resting his eyes on Lucia for a bit who just looked at him disgusted at his sight. They walked to the woods but Husky got stopped by the bullies. ‘’No, no, the people who already took the test are not allowed to help’’ Husky growled at them but Tyler rested his hand on his shoulder ‘’we’ll be fine, big guy. Just stay here and we will be back before you know it’’ he said and Husky nodded.

And they ventured into the woods.

At first they were walking at a pretty slow peace and then they picked up their steps more normally as they realized this was, as expected, nothing out of the ordinary. Soon they were laughing among themselves and joking around.

‘’But man, those dudes are real assholes’’ Alex complained. Ty agreed wholeheartedly.

Tyler realized that this was a good moment to get Alex alone and ask him about Husky. He nudged him with his elbow and made him a signal so they can let the group walk a bit forward. When they were a little bit behind Alex asked what was wrong.

‘’Say, I’ve been wanting to ask for a while… do you not… do you not like Husky or something?’’ he asked trying to find better words to say it but in the end he just let it out like it should. ‘’Because sometimes you seem really serious when he is around or like you do this weird fake smile when I look at you and you caught me staring’’ Tyler said.

Alex grinned a little bit. ‘’So you’ve been staring at me?’’ he teased. Ty gently blushed but pushed him a bit ‘’I’m serious’’ he warned.

Alex sighed, he remembered that when he saw Husky for the first time it was through the CIM and there was some jealousy when he saw how Tyler would treat him, like he was his best friend in the world and sure, he and Tyler didn’t knew each other until that year but he felt like Tyler was his best friend in the world and when he saw how he treated Husky he felt really jealous and he tried to let it go but there was something that he didn’t like about Husky.

It all made sense when Husky threw the doors open of the infirmary and the doors flied in the air like they were made of paper. Later when Husky came to his house and confessed to be a ward and begged for him not to tell anything to Tyler he knew why he didn’t liked him.

He was a liar; he was lying to Tyler and was making him lie to Tyler as well. He hated that he was not able to tell him, he lied to him before when he didn’t tell him and Lucia about being a farmer and what did it meant to be a farmer on the magical world and now here he was on the same situation again for someone who didn’t deserved the kindness of his friend.

Alex realized something when he agreed to keep the secret for Husky. One, he was an idiot bound to make the same mistakes and two he was incredibly selfish. He was lying and he knew this was not going to end well when it all comes out but inside him there was some hope that he would stop talking to Husky for this and then he would be able to be his best friend.

Yeah, he found out that he was selfish and he didn’t like to share his friends to anyone. He found out that he had such ugly feelings inside him that he couldn’t tell anyone about it.

Even so, a promise is a promise, even with such bad feelings inside him he was going to keep his promise until it all blows up on Husky’s face, so he lied again.

‘’Of course I like him’’ he smiled the best he could. There was a bitter taste in his mouth.

Tyler has been so good to him, he was his friend at the beginning of the year and didn’t came close to him just because he had a lot of money being a farmer. That’s why he liked him and Lucia so much, because they wanted him around for who he was and here he was lying again.

‘’It might be just in your head. You should ask Husky if there’s anything , I’m sure he would tell you if there was’’ he grinned pulling up an prize worthy performance in lies and he wished that Tyler would notice.  
But he didn’t.

Tyler smiled that honest smile of him, the one he gives to the animals at the stables, the one he wears when he sings, the one that for some reason he doesn’t understand he always gives to him whenever they are talking all by themselves. How could he lie to a friend that smiles at you like that?

‘’Ah, I’m so glad! I was worried my two favorite people wouldn’t get along’’ he grinned and then opened his eyes like he realized what he said. ‘’I mean! Two of my favorite people! That’s what I meant’’ he stuttered. Alex laughed. ‘’So I’m tied on the first place?’’ he laughed making his friend all red in the face.

‘’Hey, what are you doing, you two?’’ Yelled Lucia from the front making the two boys smile and catch up to them.  
.  
.  
ḩ̶̙͈̭̱͖̳͎̼͛̈̆͐e̸̦̺̜̠̦̱̳̥͛̈̎̈̓̅̐̌̆͢'̸̢̬̭̟̳̞̲̳̞̊̋͒̍̍̚͟s̵̢̞̹͈̦̣͇͊̃̈͒̔͛ l̷̜͚̲̝̏̿̆̉̑̓͑̈́͢͠ͅy̺̪̺̳͈͂̂̋̓̀i̡͉͕̰̘̠̘̳̗̇͑̎̏̔̅n̵̰͉͍̗̯̻͙̂͑̉̋̾͢͞͞g̢̯̮̠͕͍͕̎͑̔̿̏̆͝ͅ  
.  
.  
Said the voice, ‘shut up, he is not’ Tyler said back inside his mind.

y͔̣̙̭̜̓͗̋͐̒̊͝ō̸̱̯̻͔̻̙̪̪̆̈̋̚u̡͔̙͔͆́͌̀͆̆̓̿͢ ǩ͚͉̖̟̲̳̭̊̈́̀͆͌̈́͆̈́͞n͕̮̗̙̬̊͋͑̑̏̀̂ͅǒ̧̢̙̯̜̖͓͚͖̩̔͂̍̔͐͘w̨͉̘̱͉͙̝̰̫̟͌͛͑͒͠͝ į̴̡̧̢͓̦̻͇̠̺͛͐̽͞t̷͔͉̠̝͗͗͂̚̕͜  
.

‘He is not lying, drop it’ Tyler said back, nobody noticed how for a split of a second his eyes turned completely black.

They finally reached the clearing without much trouble and saw the big oak tree almost in the middle of it. ‘’That was easier than expected’’ Winn mentioned walking to the tree and patting the ground a bit with his feet. ‘’The bottles should be around here somewhere’’ he searched.

‘’If we could use our wands’’ Alex mentioned lazily. Lucia punched him in the arm. ‘’Stop that, you know we shouldn’t’’ she groaned.

‘’Time to get dirty then’’ Winnifred said and without hesitation dropped to the ground and started digging on the ground. Lucia and Alex shrugged and did the same. Winn looked like he couldn’t be bothered as he checked several patches of ground as he hypothesized where bottles were hidden.

Tyler was about to help digging when out of the corner of his eye he saw something.

He turned and at first he didn’t knew what he was seeing, he saw what it looked like some rags and a face but when it started to move from tree to tree he realized it was a person with a mask and some rags as clothing. He then saw a couple more approaching from the trees. ‘’Hey, guys?’’ he said to the rest making them all rise up their faces.

The figures were approaching from the trees, they were many of them and they looked tall and stronger. Tyler almost summoned his wand but he remembered the rules and what Husky had told them. ‘’Calm down, they are probably just messing with us’’ he said to the rest. 

Lucia managed to look down at the hole she was digging and saw a glint, she kneeled down and reached for a bottle. ‘’Found one! Now we can go back!’’ she took the bottle but it was then when a rock crashed against the side of Winn’s glasses and he fell to the ground.

.  
Husky was at the outskirts of the forest waiting patiently like instructed as he tried to ignore Paul’s attempts to get him on his side.

‘’You know, is a real shame you don’t want to be friends again, I mean we could have a lot of fun you know! My dad is letting us drive his boat this summer and we might go to Paris or Sweden for the break as well. Maybe you’d like to join us? I remember you used to love riding on the boat until Suarez arrived’’ he tried. Husky scoffed and kept staring at the forest trying to see if they were already coming back.

‘’Just, what are you trying to achieve with Suarez anyway? He is a nobody’’ Pietro said trying to help.

‘’Yes, you know that with us you can have way more fun’’ Paul said but again Husky said nothing. ‘’Geez it’s like you are in love with him or something!’’ he said angrily and finally Husky said something back that he couldn’t quite catch. ‘’What did you said?’’ Paul asked.

‘’I am’’ He said looking coldly at them both. For a second they both looked stunned and Paul gritted his teeth looking angrier than ever. ‘’Why? He is no one! You could do so much better! Why would you like to be with someone like that?’’ he asked but again Husky went silent.

‘’Just leave him, they will be deal with soon anyways’’ Pietro tried to calm down his friend and this called Husky’s attention. Paul snickered at this.

‘’What, what did you do?’’ Husky asked them, Paul grinned wickedly, ‘’Just called some favors. Some older kids were going to use the clearing to smoke today anyways, we just suggested they would use rocks to make anyone who would be there run away’’ 

He seemed like he was going to say something more but he was thrown to the ground and Husky was on top of him with his arms around the collar of his shirt. ‘’You did what?!’’ he said and was about to punch him but something came over him.

It was the same similar feeling he had when his knot spell melted last year signifying that Tyler was in trouble.

He got up and ran to the forest.

There was no time, no time, they could hurt him and he was so close this time, this time he could protect him. The anger and the feeling of protection he had unleashed something he was so afraid to unleash.  
He turned into the ward.

A cloud of smoke appeared out of nowhere, he could hear his clothes getting ripped open and his body growing taller, his body growing the black and grey fur and his hands growing, his claws appearing, the silver necklace on his neck breaking.

He stopped for a second looking at his body and he knew he needed to turn back but the feeling that Tyler needed him was still there.

Husky realized that there was no turning back now, he just wished he was not going to lose him over this.  
.  
The rock didn’t actually hit Winn it hit the rim of his classes a bit and it was the surprise what made him fall on his butt, but the rest of the masked people were now grabbing more rocks from the ground. Tyler quickly went by Winn’s side.

‘’Are you alright?’’ he asked and he nodded aware of his surroundings now. They reached to summon their wands but Tyler stopped them. ‘’Wait! The rules, we can’t do it’’ he said.

‘’Then what can we do?’’ Asked Winnifred on a desperate tone, she looked around for something to do or a way to run away but they were surrounded.

Lucia came forward and walked out to the clearing, she had a serious face more than they’d seen her before. ‘’I don’t need wands to face these assholes’’ she sad and a rock was thrown at her, she quickly saw it and with the bottle that was on her hand smashed the rock. The rock was thrown back towards one of the masked people and hit it on the forehead of the mask making them fall back. The bottle survived the impact somehow but another rock was thrown and she used the bottle again to send it back, she did it with another and another reacting to every movement she could see out of the corners of her eyes.

Until one big enough rock smashed the bottle. She groaned as the rick grazed her arm but she did not back down. ‘’If you want to come at me then come! I will not back down for some bitches who hide their faces!’’ she pointed the broken bottle at them and a few actually backed down but a few grabbed more rocks.

‘’Lucia come back!’’ Yelled Alex urging her to come back to the tree where they could find some cover.  
And then no rocks came, there was a howling sound and a few yelps and then some screams and then the masked people started running away yelling something about a beast.

They heard rustling sounds around them, all over the place as more people ran away and grumbling sounds came from the woods, the squad ran towards Lucia and they all went to the back to back of each other as the sounds around them became quicker.  
‘’That doesn’t sound like a trick from some mortals’’ Mumbled Winn.

‘’Fuck the rules, we should summon the wands’’ Suggested Lucia and Tyler saw the bruise on her arm next to him and nodded his head. He didn’t want her to get hurt.

They snapped their fingers and the wands came out of their sleeves, it was difficult to catch them as they were shot with a bit out of control since they were wearing short sleeved shirts but they managed to stand guard.  
‘Osidio’ they all summoned their shields as the grumbling came closer and out of the woods came a figure that they couldn’t quite comprehend at first.

It was a beast, a big beast of almost two meters, it looked like the mixture of a wolf and a person and was looking around while sniffed and then it’s eyes looked at them. They raised their shields but the beast did not moved the beast staid there as the grumbling ceased and a whining sound came out of its jaws.

The beast looked at Tyler and he stared back looking at it wondering what it was and why it stopped, it looked with a sad stare at him while its breathing started to get calmer.

And as Tyler stared at those eyes he stared at some other things too like the ripped pants that looked familiar and the shirt torn shirt that looked like it belonged to a student and his mind started to race, he started to put some pieces together that he didn’t want to put together but he knew those eyes, he knew that stare and he knew the knot spell on the beast’s wrist.

Tyler lowered his shield he felt like his heart sank with the shield. He walked slowly to the beast. ‘’Tyler wait!’’ Alex tried to reach him but he pulled his hand away and kept walking.

‘’Husky?’’ he asked the beast and the beast sat down whining. ‘’Oh Husky, what happened to you?’’ Tyler asked running now to the beast and wrapping his arms around it, the beast whined some more and some steam started to come out of nowhere. Tyler didn’t let go of the beast he just let it change under his arms until it sank in size and the fur disappeared being replaced by bare skin.

His Husky was there hugging back.

‘’I wanted to tell you, I wanted to tell you for a long time, I’m sorry I didn’t’’ Husky whispered, tears on his face.  
‘’Husky what happened to you, why did you look like that?’’ Tyler asked more confused than anything.

Husky swallowed hard, he had to say it now, he had to confess ‘’I’m not human, Ty. I’ve never been. I’m a ward’’ He said not looking at him. Tyler blinked several times in confusion. ‘’A ward?’’ he remembered something being mentioned, something he heard at the infirmary after the attacks of last term about a ward but he didn’t knew what it was or who they were talking about.  
‘’What is a ward?’’ he asked, ‘’how does being that makes you not human? How is it possible, how long has this been going on?’’ Tyler pulled apart a little bit trying to look at him in the face, Husky grabbed to his arms to not let him go but he kept his stare on the ground.  
‘’There are, several more dimensions than just the mortal and the meta-worlds, wards are spirits that come from one of them to the meta-world and they take upon the shape of beasts to be in this world. They exist in this world to protect someone important and our family has been protecting yours since the days of your great grandfather’’ he explained.

Tyler’s mind started to race, he didn’t know what to think. This means that Husky knew about him being magical all along? Wait, does this means that Husky was his friend just because of some protection his great grandfather had on his family? Does this mean that when the Husk family moved they knew about all of this?

Does this mean that since the beginning they’ve been lying to him?

Tyler broke apart and took a few steps back it was just then when Husky lifted his gaze and he looked scared. ‘’You knew about me being magical?’’ Tyler asked and Husky blinked he didn’t answered he just blinked he didn’t said anything he didn’t explained he didn’t made excused.

Tyler begged inside his mind for him to at least deny it.

‘’Husky, are you my friend just because you have to protect me?’’ he asked and this seemed to shine something on Husky’s eyes. ‘’No! never, don’t think that’’ Husky tried to get close again but Tyler broke apart and pushed him. ‘’Let go of me!’’ he yelled.  
Again nobody noticed how at that moment his eyes turned entirely black for a split second.

Lucia ran towards them and put herself in front of Husky. ‘’Tyler please! Hear him out, this was harder than you imagine, for Husky to keep something like this was something-‘’ ‘’That means you knew?!’’ he asked her yelling again.

No, this was not his voice, this were not his feelings. Something is wrong but he didn’t had the time to figure it out….

He turned to the rest of the squad. ‘’And you knew too?’’ he asked and the cousins lowered their heads, Alex kept his stare but he looked ashamed. ‘’He asked us not to tell you’’ he said plainly. 

‘’So you lied, again!’’ he yelled at Alex too, he was yelling at everyone.

Lucia came close and she tried to grab his arm. ‘’Tyler, please!’’ she begged him but the anger, the pain and the voice in his head were too much. ‘’Let go of me!’’

A wave of some dark force came out of Tyler and send them all to the ground, only Tyler stood there looking as his friends fell to the ground. Instant regret filled him, he ran towards Lucia ‘’Lu, I’m so sorry!’’ he said and reached his hand to her but she looked at him and on instinct flinched and back down a bit on the ground.

Seeing that movement and the glimpse of fear on her eyes made him come with something strong; it was shame.

He walked back and covered his mouth with his hands, he looked at everyone around. ‘’I’m so sorry’’ he whispered. ‘’I’m so sorry’’ he cried and without saying anything to anyone his body started to cross over to the meta-world. 

‘’Tyler wait!’’ they yelled trying to reach him but he crossed and was gone.  
.  
Christopher threw himself on his bed, a dark cloud of anger forming in his head, today they had to cut their trip short because of something that happened with Tyler, that damn irregular always ruining things for everyone, and sure he hated to be on the boring mortal world but Tyler had annoy him today with that humiliating prank he pulled on him.

Now he saw his dumb friends trying to get him to talk as they called to him through the door but nobody answered, he ignored them and walked into his room because he still was mad about being humiliated.

That was the second time Tyler had humiliated him the first being at the lockers when he told him he would never be with him and he was better than him making everyone laugh at Christopher.

Christopher wanted to curse his entire lineage but instead a brilliant idea came to his mind.

Tyler thought he was too good for him right? Then to take revenge the only thing he needed to do is prove him wrong! Yes that was it! Christopher could prove him wrong by making Tyler fall in love with him and then after it was all done he would reveal it all and humiliate him in front of everyone!

Yes it was perfect indeed, no hidden feelings there at all! He got up from his bed and went to his desk, he took a piece of parchment and started to write there. He just needed to make the best possible plan to make Tyler fall in love, he needed to pretend to be nice he needed to pretend to be good and he needed to just make Tyler just so dependent on him that he would be unable to live without him.

Yes, the perfect plan, indeed.  
.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELP THAT HAPPENED  
> Chris is on absolute denial of course.  
> Husky is heartbroken  
> Tyler is still with something happening to him  
> and the squad is freaking out!
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER SOON TO COME! YO!  
> also happy V day to all!


	4. Chapter 4. The Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> freaking fucking finally!  
> i was breaking my heart and my mind with this one because from now I already set the main issues for this book, next chapters will have plot but some will be more lighthearted as Tyler learn new magic and new feelings, THANK YOU FOR READING THIS AND HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS ONE!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 4.  
The plans.

Justine Justice and Chance Pride jumped up when they heard a loud noise coming from outside the window, a great quantity of papers flying all around since they were previously buried in them. Chance looked outside and the noise came from an old flying car that had smoke coming out from the exhaust pipe, he sighed tiredly and closed the window now with his eyes getting adjusted to the light and darkness of the room he looked at Justine who was stretching moaning a complain about her strained back.

They spent all night researching suspects, after they received the official permit to investigate the case they went straight to interrogate the bankers where the explosion took place but there were no leads, they only saw the masked men coming inside they pointed their wands at them, knocked them unconscious and went directly to the vaults. 

They tried using tracking spells but there were no markings to be found, no fingerprints or foot prints anywhere. Justine thought that it was due to the culprits using a levitation spell to not leave any marks and using exclusively spells to open the vaults and carry the money so they wouldn’t touch anything. 

So the bank had no real leads and they were too busy trying to find the records of the money that the stolen vaults carried so they could try to arrange something for the people who lost it all, that kid who got his house burnt down on the mortal world being one of the victims.

Since they couldn’t search for magicals that were particularly good at floating spells so they searched for suspects in the area; it seemed like the only witnesses could only look at some cloaked figures that poofed themselves in front of the bank and went inside running and after that the explosions made everyone run.

The explosions of course were going to be their main lead. There were spells capable to cause explosions like the ones that went down at the vaults but the vaults were protected against wand casted spells, therefore Justine guessed that the culprits probably used some potion on an ingredient to cause a spell, as another option there was the possibility of a familiar being used but there were almost no animal familiars who could cause those explosions.

Therefore a search had to be made. They looked for ingredients that could cause those explosions and were able to track a book of destructive spells and potions that could have the answer, there were almost no copies so they had to send and officer to look for the book to several libraries, they rookie who was selected had still to come back. In the meanwhile they had been searching for a registry of magicals with dragons and other fire powered creatures as familiars since they were the ones that could create the spell.

They were searching all through the night and ended up buried in papers without much to go on.

‘’I don’t understand, you said you had a lead’’ Vance said trying to arrange some papers on the desks. ‘’I do!’’ Said Justine as she used her wand to arrange them in a quick manner ‘’But we need more to go on until we can follow, we need actual proof so that the judge can let us interrogate the suspect, but the suspect was on the area buying several things and was spotted many times near the bank before the explosions’’ Justine explained stretching her back some more.

Justine had told Vance the lead she found, he told her she was crazy but she had a hunch that they were on a path that could lead them to victory so Vance listened to her.

She looked around the area and walked to the door of the office, she opened it and yelled ‘’Hey, had any of you seen Phillips?!’’ she asked at the people outside and she received many denials from the officers. She sighed tiredly and came back inside.

‘’This is getting annoying, if he doesn’t come back today we need to go find him’’ she said on a thinking mode already. ‘’nothing could happen to him, he reported last night’’ Vance tried with her as he already knew she was thinking gruesome things. She had a habit to suspect bad things were happening.  
‘’Whatever, we’ve been putting it off for too long already, let’s visit the kid’s house’’ She said going to grab some cold coffee from an almost forgotten cup on the desk. She made a weird face at the cold bitter drink and shuddered a bit.

‘’You know I would love to go home and take a shower first’’ Chance tried but Justine was already at the door. ‘’You will shower when you’re dead’’ she said walking out, letting out a breathy laugh Chance followed ‘’that’s not how that saying goes’’ he tried to correct her but she didn’t care. 

Justine walked out of the station without really acknowledging people, crossed the street where she walked calmly behind a tree and crossed over the realms. Now on the normal world she got hit with a sunny morning and clear skies on Seagull City. 

The heat of this city was always the same, she ditched her coat and the hat, letting them fall to the ground and disappear into nothingness and stayed just on her black slacks and white shirt, a second later Chance appeared crossing over and detected the same heat and right away ditched the coat but stayed with the same button up shirt, dress pants and black vest. He did however loosened the tie a bit and unbuttoned the top button of the shirt.

‘’Always hot in this city’’ he mentioned without much real care. 

‘’Pollution’’ She said plainly. Chance walked quietly near her as they walked towards the burnt home that shouldn’t be too far away. This has been going on since they started the case, Justice would get into the investigating mood which meant she would do whatever came to her mind and forget about anything else like eating or even talking longer than three sentences.

Chance was pretty used to it but there was something about the current situation that he would like to inquiry, he thought he already knew the answer but he wanted to ask anyways. ‘’Don’t you think we need to speak with the kid first? He probably doesn’t even know if someone is investigating the matter of his parents disappearance’’ he asked her but there was no answer for a moment he thought she didn’t even her him so he opened his mouth to try again but she held her finger up to speak as she walked. ‘’I’m not good with children, you know this. Besides I need more evidence before I go and ask something from the kid, he will want to know if we have any strong leads and I will not lie to someone who is missing his parents’’ she stated and then stopped.

They were in front of an empty lot that used to be the home of a family of three, now it was just ashes surrounded by Police tape. Justine sighed a bit looking at the whole place. ‘’The best gift for that kid will be to give him his parents back’’ she then went under the tape and into the lot.

Chance smiled a bit at that, he looked quickly around and noticed there was nobody on the street, he quickly muttered a spell and when he went under the tape he vanished.

They were both still on the mortal world but they placed a protective spell around the police tape that would made them invisible as they looked around.

Justine first casted a spell searching for foreign objects that wouldn’t belong there, a green light dropped from the wand like a small rock and then started to roll around searching for objects. While the spell searched Chance summoned another spell. ‘’Espacio remembrance’’ he casted.

Slowly a blue light started to form walls around them, blue almost transparent walls. They started to form and reform the home and soon a blue semi-transparent version of the house appeared before them.  
They walked inside the home searching for two figures that should be there, they found them soon on the living room.

‘’Alright, so according to the report, the couple were on the living room when the attackers broke into the house’’ Justine explained as the door of the home opened suddenly but nothing came inside, sadly the spell could not provide the silhouettes of the attackers as it only showed the owners of the home but they could infer where they were by movements in the environment. 

For example, a small breeze passed a plant on a pot on the hallway; they could assume a person passed through there by that although they couldn’t see any forms, silhouettes or shadows. 

‘’They were threatened’’ Chance said as the silhouettes of the couple got up from the couch and raised their arms, the smaller framed one putting their arms in front in a protective manner, the bigger one getting in front in a defensive way.

Justine walked to the kitchen and saw the knobs of the stove moving. ‘’There was another one, lighting up the stove’’ she said.

Chance saw the silhouettes directing their heads at the stairs. ‘’Another one coming from upstairs, blocking all exits’’ he stated.

‘’And then the couple disappears, probably being poofed away’’ Justine said as she walked back into the living room and the silhouettes vanished.

‘’a candle was lit on the living room and a bit later, it all blew up’’ Chance added as a candle on the coffee table light up by itself.

‘’So we have at least five people at the house, one from the stairs, one on the stove, two to take the people and poof them away and then one more to light up the candle’’ she stated, to prove her theory she took out some powder from a small brown bag that came from her pockets.

‘’How do you know it was five people? The same people could’ve done several things at once, and even one person could’ve poofed the victims away’’ Chance inquired.

‘’I discovered this powder on a trip to China a few months ago, it’s supposed to enhance the scene reconstruction spell by lighting up in color the things a person who did not belonged to the home touched’’ she explained and took some colored powder, put it in her hand and blow it in the air, the powder started to spread around the blue transparent house, it touched several objects and they colored themselves in green, yellow, purple, pink and red.

‘’Five colors, five people’’ she said looking around to see if she could get glimpse of any more colors. ‘’Brilliant! We must inform the team so they can be on the lookout for five suspects’’ Chance said proudly but Justice stopped him. ‘’Wait! For now, let us keep this between us’’ she said looking around searching for more colors.

‘’What, why? We must report any findings to the investigating team’’ he said. Justice rubbed her head a bit.  
‘’Listen, Chance, we need to be careful about this… Let’s review the clues up until now, shall we?’’ she asked for him to review them but he sighed looking annoyingly at her. ‘’It’s always something weird with you, we need to inform the team about this, the chief will want to know and this is our job, why do you want to keep this a secret?’’

‘’The clues, Chance, now’’ she said plainly still on investigating mode, not paying attention to any of his annoyed demeanor.

‘’Fine!’’ Chance took a notepad out of his pocket and started to read. ‘’Starting from the bank and what we know what, five people entered the bank at around 04:45 PM in the afternoon, they were wearing masks so people wouldn’t recognize them. Immediately they knocked the guards and the bankers and according to your hypothesis, they floated into the vaults, they located five vaults, all irregular students between the kidnaped kids of last year and one of them was Tyler Suarez the kid who stopped them for harming more people at the attacks last year. They exploded the vaults with an unknown substance and took the money. Later they poofed themselves out.’’ He started and turned a page while paying attention to Justine, she was looking at the colors. She opened her eyes like she found something but Chance kept going as it looked like she needed it to concentrate.

‘’Then half an hour later the attack at the Suarez home happened, the place was completely blown out by a gas leak that the suspects caused. The couple was kidnapped. No leads and no evidence as the whole place was burnt’’ he closed the notepad. ‘’Good enough for you?’’

She got up from the floor where she was examining ashes, took a notepad from her pockets and started to read. ‘’Listen, I think that the person who is behind this, the one of my lead knew the children who were kidnapped and the Suarez kid as well, it makes sense since they attacked only those vaults and the home of the kid’’ she stated. Chance was about to say that pretty much anyone could get that information anyways reading the papers and researching a bit but she pulled the notebook and shove it to his face before he could say anything.

‘’This is a list of people I have as suspect, anyone you find familiar?’’ she asked serious, looking straight at his eyes, her own eyes shining with something out of place that Chance could not explain.  
He read the list and quickly found someone familiar. ‘’Why do you have these as suspects?’’ 

‘’According to witnesses these people were in the area at the time of the attacks, they are all irregular supporters. She explained slightly just slightly turning her eyes to the side. Chance found that odd but kept his sight on the list.

There was something written on the list of people just under the name of a man was a note that said ‘read this out loud’ Chance didn’t even changed his expression as he said it.

‘’You really think is this man? The mortal teacher at the school, that Roy Rogers guy?’’ he asked out loud and she grinned.

‘’Turn down your spell, we need to go…’’ she said and walked out of the blue transparent door, Chance quickly followed her and called back his spell.

They came out of the area surrounded by police tape and kept a pretty fast walk; Justine kept glancing behind her a couple times a minute until Chance asked. ‘’Justice, why did you ask me to say’’ he started but the whole world got twisted and disappeared as Justice poofed them both out of place.

Suddenly they were on top of a house and Justine looked around to quickly poofed them again. Now they were on top of a clock tower in the middle of town where she poofed again and suddenly they were on top of another building that was looking at the clock-tower they just were before. 

Quickly Chance pulled his hand out of her reach. ‘’Justice what the fuck is your problem?’’ He asked and she jabbed him on the ribs and pointed to the clock-tower. He looked and a second later a hooded figure poofed in there and it came down to him.

They were being followed.

Justice quickly took his hand again and poofed again and suddenly they were on top of the glass tower she quickly pulled Chance towards the entrance of the rooftop and they hid behind it for a second before a poof sound came, then a small grunt, a couple of steps and then another poof….  
Then silence.

They came out of their hiding spot and Justice sighed. ‘’We were being watched when we were at the burnt lot’’ she raised her wand where the small light that she dropped at the lot before. ‘’The light detected a hidden intruder, they were hiding under invisivility clothes and therefore it was harder for me to see, but I was able to locate it near a corner’’ she explained.

Without warning she slammed Chance against the wall and pointed her wand at his throat. ‘’What the hell?’’ he complained but Justice started to search him with her free hand.

‘’You don’t honestly believe I have any part on this!’’ he yelled at her raising his arms as she checked around and when she couldn’t find any communication devices except the parchment he uses to report to the station she let him go.

Without apologies she looked around like checking one more time that they were alone. ‘’I can’t trust many people Chance, I need to know I can trust you on this one’’ she said finally looking straight at his eyes and she raised her arms to the side. ‘’It’s only fair you search me’’ she said.

‘’Justine, I trust you, it’s you who needs to trust people’’ he said still angrily at her behavior. ‘’You need to tell me why are you so on edge on this’’ 

Justine lowered her arms finally looking slightly embarrassed at her behavior… ‘’When I realized we were being followed I made you read that name on my notepad out loud because I needed to let them believe I have a different suspect. Mr. Rogers cannot be the suspect, he was indeed around but he is a mortal and therefore is unable to cast floating spells. Besides witnesses also saw him hid at the bread shop across the street from the bank where he stayed with several other witnesses who were hiding’’ she said and searched on her notepad the real name of her suspect.

‘’There is a person I suspect, when I was on that warehouse on Mexico where the fire took place, I searched for the owners of the lot’’ she showed Chance the real suspect and his eyes widened.

‘’This person…’’ he stared at the paper.

‘’A person who has plenty connections, a person who has given so many contributions to the city, including the SMACK, a person who is powerful enough in town that we will need real, solid evidence to even bring his name to the judge to investigate them further’’ she explained and closed the notepad. 

‘’But Justice, this person is not even an irregular, their family is one of the most powerful benefactors of the city and he has been vocal about their hate on irregulars for a while’’ Chance reasoned and then he realized immediately.

That’s exactly the reaction people would have.

If this person was guilty, they would need enough evidence to bring him down, if the man on this list was plotting with the irregulars they would need to learn why and how, the people in town wouldn’t believe for a second this man could be involved after being so vocal against irregulars in the past.  
Pride understood, he knew that they needed to learn more.

‘’Pride, I need to know if you trust me on this, my gut is telling me that this is our main lead’’ Justine said looking into his stare.

‘’…Fine, but you need to trust me as well, if we are going to look into this man, things might get ugly’’ he said and offered his hand to Justine ‘’we need to trust each other, deal?’’ he asked and she nodded stroking his hand. ‘’Deal...’’

At that moment a scribbling sound came from the man’s pockets and he searched to see the parchment getting scribbled with a message. 

‘’Finally! The rookie found the book with the ingredients to cause the explosions’’ he said making Justine grin. ‘’Alright! Finally it is our time to read on it’’

She said and walked to the edge of the building to cross over the dimensions.

A deep feeling filled Chance. The name they saw on the list, it was a man who worked with a powerful family and had so many connections around town that it would be difficult to bring down, but still he trusted justice and Justine as well… he only wondered if he could trust himself.

.  
It was pretty late at night when Winn finally came into the room, Christopher had been expecting him for quite a while now, he looked at the other boy who had a tired look on his face and was removing his glasses as he sat on his bed and sighed.

Christopher smirked as he got up from his own bed. ‘’Shitty day, weirdo? He asked with a mean voice. Winn did not answer. ‘’Well I guess you had to have it pretty bad if you were begging Suarez for so long’’ he said as he went to his closet and picked up a black cape from there, getting ready to leave.  
Again Winn ignored him but that statement hurt a little.

They tried to get Tyler to talk to him through the door for hours when they realized they could just open it with magic; they did it and found Tyler lying on his bed facing the wall with several protection spells around the bed, they tried to talk to him but he was not hearing them, either that or he didn’t want to listen.

Winn thought that the second choice was more painful so he chooses to believe Tyler couldn’t hear them. In the end they went to inform the girls who were standing all that time outside the boys dorms and they all went to bed as Lucia promised to call Husky to tell him what happened.

‘’What fucked him up so much, anyways?’’ Christopher asked half-heartedly checking himself in the mirror for a bit but again Winn kept quiet. Finally sick of that damn demeanor, Christopher went for the killer. ‘’Well you must’ve really fuck it up if someone like Tyler would be mad at you’’ he smirked finally looking how Winn’s eyes followed him with a treat.

‘’I mean, someone who is so dumb that always forgives everyone, someone who is so dumb that keeps smiling through all and seem to love you all like you were the sun… well if you made someone like that upset…’’ Christopher looked at him from the mirror. ‘’You must’ve been a really shitty friend, indeed’’ he grinned. Winn almost launched himself at him but Christopher pushed him back to the bed with one hand.   
‘’We still have a deal, right?’’ he asked walking to the door and Winn clicked his tongue. ‘’Fine, just fucking leave’’ he muttered making Christopher smile and leave.

Last year they came into an agreement that sure, they couldn’t stand each other but they will need to help each other, Winn would often sneak out of the dorms to do some project by himself at the empty potions lab and Christopher would sneak out to do whatever he wanted so they made a deal to not say anything and cover for each other for the sake of their personal plans.

Since it seemed like the deal was still on, Christopher walked out of the dorms and onto the hallways of the empty quiet castle, he smiled to himself as his plan was already in motion, he needed to check first on the person who he could almost trust in this place.

He walked for a while until he exited the castle and went into the greenhouse where he found Pamela lazily painting her nails as she waited. ‘’Fucking finally!’’ she said annoyed as the boy walked into the place. ‘’Sorry, the Luciferus boy was busy trying to get Suarez to talk to them again’’ he explained and pulled a chair to sit close to her.

‘’What did even happened to Suarez, anyway?’’ she asked admiring the black nail polish on her right hand and started with the left.

‘’Beats me, I only saw them begging him to speak to them through the door but never mind that, this is the right moment to start a little plan I have in mind’’ he said taking some parchment out of his robes and placed it on the table in front of them.

Pamela read: ‘The Plan to get Tyler to fall in love with me’ she smiled excitedly as she thought this was finally the chance for Christopher to admit his feelings and she can stop losing sleep because he was so damn stupid…. And then she read the end of the line ‘and humiliate him in the end’ she read and crumpled the parchment and threw it on the floor.

‘’Hey! The hell you did that for?’’ he asked going to retrieve the parchment form the ground.  
‘’Chris, I have no time for your denial bullshit, I mean why on earth would you want to put in motion a plan like this?’’ she complained re-starting the repainting of her nails. 

‘’Listen, he said that nobody as good as him would be with anyone like me and that he was better than me! Can you even believe that? But if I set this in motion he will regret ever saying anything to me in the first place’’ he looked at the plan with a wicked grin on his face.

But Pamela could notice the faint blush on his cheek, she was sick of this idiot not admitting his feelings because she believed that this crush could be something positive in his life.

Pamela was his comrade, she knew him for a long time with both being from the same kingdom and distant relatives and she knew that this could be good for him.

Since the first day of school when Christopher would be chased down by crazy girls who wanted a piece of the prince of Crystalia, Pamela decided to stay moderately away to monitor the situation and find dirt on the girls so they would stay away from him since the whole situation made Christopher uncomfortable.

Christopher didn’t want many people to know that he was the prince, after all, Crystalia was pretty private regarding their monarchy and not a lot of pictures or information was released to the world’s eyes so not many people knew the monarchy by face and name and for his own personal reasons Christopher decided not to use the King’s last name ‘York’ and go by ‘Foster’ instead and insisted that the teachers would call his name as Christopher Y Foster.

They respected his wishes and Pamela tried to keep her distance a bit to try to keep away the girls as soon as she could get the information she needed to blackmail them.

But then a boy came along that she did not predicted that she could or should take down. Tyler Suarez seemed like a boy who ‘like many others at school’ didn’t know that Christopher was the prince of a kingdom. She knew from the start that he was an irregular and felt a bit of apprehension towards him but when he saw the smile on Christopher’s face she knew something had clicked.

She wanted to keep that smile on his face but then Tyler revealed he was an irregular to save his friend from the bullying and Christopher with good reason started to hate him… or at least pretend he hated him…. Sure he had his reasons, like what happened to his kingdom at the riots and the downfall of the queen and the princess but she knew that there was something sincere on Christopher when Tyler was around.

She even saw from the shadows when Tyler jumped to protect his friend, she saw how Christopher tried to stop him and grabbed his hand, because even when he didn’t recognized it at that moment that was a sign that Christopher wanted someone honest at his side, someone who didn’t knew who he was or cared for his status.

She had a theory as well, that Christopher pretended that he hated Tyler so much that he convinced himself he did hated him to hide the feelings he had for the irregular boy and so Christopher kept denying his feelings over and over again so much that she got sick of it.

Pamela knew Tyler was a good boy, damn, he was probably the kindest boy she’d seen and the only boy who could put Christopher in his place and could keep him quiet and the only boy that she knew could keep a smile on his face after bad things happened to him. He had a killer voice that Christopher would smile honestly at whenever he would sing, and again it was that smile, the same smile he hasn’t wore ever since the princess died that she wanted to protect.

But she grew sick of watching the denial, the fights, the name calling, the constant nagging of ‘Oh this Tyler boy is an idiot, that Suarez is such an embarrassment or Damn I hate that irregular’ that Christopher would throw around just because he didn’t want to admit one simple thing.  
Christopher liked Tyler.

And sure, liking an irregular boy would be messy for Christopher, he would have to face the king, the kingdom and the world that expects a heir from him but still she knew that if he would just stop to be so stubborn he would admit that Tyler was a boy that could do him good.

Seeing him right now with a plan to make Tyler fall in love with him and then leave him humiliated filled her with anger because sure she was never going to show it because she was an unapologetic bitch but she didn’t want Christopher to hurt the only boy he’d ever liked before and hurting himself in the end…  
So looking at the plan on the table while inhaling a bit too much of the smell of the nail polish… she came with another idea.

The plan, yes that was it! Christopher would have to make Tyler fall in love with him for it to work right? But what if she came up with a plan that could create also an opposite effect? Maybe she could orchestrate a plan that could make Christopher finally admit that he fell for Tyler and that way they could be on the way to let Christopher break his walls down and be honestly happy again.

It was almost ironic that Christopher’s stupid schemes would get him head over hills for the boy he claims to hate in the end.

Pamela smiled like the Cheshire cat as the wheels started to turn inside her head.

‘’You know’’ she said. ‘’This might not be such a bad idea when you think about it’’ she blow air on her newly painted nails and looked at the list of things in the plan. 

‘’R-really, what changed so suddenly?’’ He asked surprised.

‘’I don’t know, I want to see how this plays out, maybe it’s interesting you know boredom is poison for us’’ she looked at the ceiling smiling a bit. ‘’Also you suck at planning, I wanted to see if one of yours could actually come through’’ 

‘’Oh, ha-ha you bitch, my plans are amazing but you are slightly better so look at this list and help me’’ he said and she read it for a bit.

‘’Alright, step one, get him away from his friends’’ She read and noticed this was already crossed off ‘’Why? Can’t take a little competition with Guzman? ‘’ she teased trying not to laugh out loud at seeing the jealous expression on Christopher’s face.

‘’Yeah, everyone and their mom know that he has a thing for the farmer but if we separate him from that group of freaks, then he will be less guarded so I can approach, and is good since they are fighting right now so I don’t have to do anything’’ he said proudly.

‘’Wow, it’s so like you to make a plan where the first step is already taken care of beforehand’’ she rolled her eyes but then went to the next on the list.

‘’Step two; get close to him… what no details? You know he won’t get close to you unless you show him he can trust you’’ she said pointing to step two. He looked at the task at hand for a moment and shrugged. ‘’Well I don’t know how can I get him to trust me, should I make a potion?’’ he said making Pamela almost throw something at him.

‘’Of course not you absolute mess! You need to work hard for this one, he needs to trust you, he needs to know that even without his friends there will be someone there for him and that someone will be you! I’m sorry to tell you this but you are going to have to be nice to him, super nice’’ she said faking a worried expression but inside her own plan was setting motion.

‘’Nice?! That is so annoying! Being nice to this filthy irregular’’ he said disgusted. Pamela knew this won’t be easy for her plan as well. ‘’Alright, pretend you are nice then! Get close, cheer him up a bit, talk to him and pretend he matters to you, that would start the first sparks of love’’ she mockingly made a dream like posture with her hands round her cheeks. 

Christopher blushed so much but he quickly composed himself.

‘’How do I do that? I mean how can I… cheer him up?’’ he asked looking at the second task on his list a little bit serious. This made Pamela smile a lot.

‘’I have a couple ideas’’ she said as they planned for a while.  
.  
That morning was so rough on Tyler, he woke up wishing all that happened was a dream, he even had to use a small bit of mandragora to fall asleep last night just so he wouldn’t face Alex and Winn which left him tired and rough looking.

He woke up next to Nox who slept at his side and smiled just a tiny bit. He looked at a light above his head and quickly noticed that the shield he set last night was still up there.

He let the shield down and right away Alex kneeled next to him on the bed. ‘’Ty! Finally! Please I need to talk to you’’ he said, looking straight to him. Tyler’s eye traveled through his face and saw his worry and the apology on his face but even if it was breaking his heart Tyler was not ready to talk to him.  
He got up sighing and went to his closet to look for a fresh uniform.

‘’Please Tyler!’’ Alex came next to him and he tried to avoid his sight. ‘’Can I change?’’ he asked as cold as he could and Alex turned around giving him some privacy.

As he was putting on his uniform Alex was fidgeting with his fingers. ‘’What, are you not going to talk to me again?’’ He asked but Tyler finished to change and went to retrieve his things for class. He noticed quickly the parchment where he talked with Husky every day had a lot of writings with apologies and several words and scrabbles but he didn’t read anything really.

He ran as fast as he could out of his room when he saw new words appearing on the parchment indicating that Husky was up and was already writing more apologies.

He walked fast out of the hallway ignoring Alex calling to him and passed through Winn who was at his door seemingly waiting, he also ignored him trying to get his attention and went down the stairs, he heard their steps coming close and he kept the peace.

It was killing him but he couldn’t talk to them, not yet at least, he was still hurt and he wanted to keep away for a bit, he didn’t knew how much time but the voice inside his head wanted him to keep away so he did.  
He heard them approaching more and was about to go into the common room when a pair of hands pulled him behind a curtain and hid them behind it. 

The hands held him close and covered his mouth; he then was there behind a curtain face to face with Christopher Y Foster who placed a finger in front of his mouth and made a low ‘shh’ sound to keep him quiet.

Tyler didn’t speak, he didn’t move, he kept quiet looking straight into his blue eyes when he heard the steps of his friends searching for him and then going away.

Tyler sighed feeling so tired already he looked up at Christopher who was smiling at him a weird kind of smile, not the one he always wore with the smirk but another kind he didn’t knew he had. ‘’Thanks’’ he said and stepped away and out of the curtain.

‘’No problem, you seemed to want to be away from those two’’ Christopher said behind him. Tyler nodded without realizing it much. ‘’What do you want?’’ he asked plainly to Christopher.

‘’Not much, just curious as to why we had to leave so early after meeting the mortals’’ he asked walking a little bit close. Very aware of this Tyler took a step separated from him and walked towards the doors of the dorms. ‘’Sorry about that but it’s not any of your business’’ he said as cold as he could.

Christopher’s eye twitched a bit but he seemed to be insistent on staying close as he walked next to Tyler. ‘’Come on, I’m naturally curious’’ he tried but this time Tyler decided to ignore him altogether and kept the walk. 

Christopher, knowing how to deal with people ignoring him took a shot with something. ‘’I mean, Luciferus was really sad last night when he arrived to our room, he looked so pathetic, honestly’’ he said trying his best absentminded voice, Tyler quickly took a look at him, something shining in his eyes with sadness.  
Something moved on Christopher’s chest but he ignored it.

‘’Don’t call Winn pathetic, Christopher’’ he said more sad than angry. ‘’Damn, I forget you are his roommate, he must have it rough’’ he said continuing the walk. 

‘’Hey, I only ignore him, most of the time, as far as I know you are the one who made him so sad in the first place’’ he said trying not to enjoy the fact that Tyler took the bait.

‘’Well he made me sad as well!’’ Tyler defended himself not liking even remotely the idea of someone like Christopher judging him for making his friend sad he lied to him. ‘’They all made me extremely sad!’’ he added for good measure of including them all.

‘’Yeah, what happened?’’ Christopher asked again. ‘’We just fought, they lied about something and we fought, you happy?’’ Tyler responded getting more annoyed by the second.

‘’Oh, you must have some lousy friends then!’’ Christopher grinned. ‘’Hey! Don’t call them that’’ Tyler stopped in the middle of some hallway ignoring the stares of people around them. Tyler didn’t even notice they reached the hallways with lots of students.

‘’You just said you were fighting’’ Christopher said. ‘’yes, but that doesn’t mean we are not friends anymore’’ Tyler responded.

‘’Do they know that, though?’’ Christopher attacked again now his mockingly voice all over the place. Tyler realized that they might not know that, maybe they thought that Tyler hated them now and sure Tyler felt bad and angry but he didn’t hated them. Tyler didn’t think he could ever hate them.

‘’Of course they know…’’ Tyler said lowering his head, suddenly not so sure they did knew.

Christopher noticed how the hallway was getting empty and he took his chance. He didn’t want to rush things so he just nudged Tyler in the shoulder. ‘’How did they made you this upset?’’ He asked insisting on the subject.

‘’Why do you care?’’ Tyler raised his head to look at him.

‘’I just don’t like the look on your face right now’’ Christopher responded without hesitation and fear, something inside him moved again but this time he could not ignore it as much. 

Tyler blinked a couple times trying to process the words in his mind and he tried not to feel embarrassed but he did and felt his cheeks getting hot. He hated that so he just pulled apart from him. ‘’They lied to me, you just need to know that, actually you don’t need to know anything, why do you want to know so much if you always tease me and bother me around?’’ Tyler walked away abut Christopher quickly caught up to him.  
Then Christopher smiled and laughed a bit but it was an honest laugh and not his usual mocking laugh. Tyler looked at him like he was crazy. ‘’What’s so funny?’

‘’Nothing, it’s just that you don’t look so sad anymore’’ he said as they finally reached the dining hall, he walked to the door. ‘’You looked like you needed to get some of that anger out, if you need to do it again come and see me after classes are done’’ he winked and went inside.

Confused, slightly annoyed and surprised than he didn’t felt as shitty as before Tyler wondered just what the hell was that and walked into the dining hall.

Tyler walked into the room and located his friends quickly. They looked like they were up all night and he felt a bit of pain. But since he was still angry he went towards them and without looking at them declared.  
‘’I’m still angry… just give me time to get over things and talk to Husky… alright?’’ he raised his head and looked.

Alex looked half angry half sad but Tyler felt like Alex’s anger was not directing at him. Winnifred was looking worried but the worry turned to Lucia who was looking crushed until she smiled at him and nodded. Tyler noticed that she had some bandage around her fingers but he didn’t comment on it, he was worried he hurt her when she fell to the ground or that one of the rocks hit her badly or the glass that broke from the bottle damaged her skin but again he remained silent. Finally Winn looked straight into his eyes and nodded without showing much in his face.

‘’Why were you with Christopher though?’’ Winn asked as he saw them at the door of the dining hall just moments earlier. Tyler shrugged and walked away reaching a lonely table at the end of the room.  
Some food appeared in front of him and he ate a few bites before putting his food to the side.

His mind was racing a little bit, right now he felt a mixture of complicated emotions he couldn’t quite comprehend or fully grasp. Sure he was still angry but he felt guilty that he was making his friends feel that way, he felt like he wanted them to explain why they lied and he felt that he missed Husky so much and that he was probably really sad as well. But then again he felt like Husky has been lying to him since they met.  
But again…

He remembered a bunch of times when he felt Husky was going to let him down and none of those times he did. Husky was loyal and a friend and the best person he had around, he knew his secrets what he loved what he hated and he knew first-hand how having his parents gone was giving him so much pain.

But still the voice inside of him was telling him that someone who betrays his trust doesn’t deserve to have him around.

Finally the emotions he was feeling for what Christopher said were also rushing to his mind. Christopher had never treated him kindly, sure they shared a couple moments when they sung together but he always came back to be the same asshole as always. But today those few moments they spent together felt so much like when they got sort of close before the school knew he was an irregular.

He decided then to take up on his offer to see him after school.

Suddenly someone sat across from the table, he looked up to see a girl… boy? No, it was a girl! A girl with her brown hair coming down her hat and above his shoulders, she looked shyly at him and smiled a bit. Tyler quickly noticed she was wearing the boys uniform and he quickly recognized her as a first year who wore boys clothing.

‘’Sorry, everywhere else is occupied, can I sit here?’’ she asked, Tyler smiled and nodded. ‘’Thank you! Grace Porter, nice to meet you’’ she said stretching her hand at him. ‘’Tyler Suarez, likewise’’ he said.

Recognition came to her face. ‘’Oh! Tyler Suarez! The irregular who went against the rioters last year and wrote the guide!’’ Grace smiled widely. ‘’Man! You are the reason why I wanted to come to this school!’’ she said and quickly took a printed copy of his guide. ‘’Could you give me your autograph?’’ she asked grinning.  
Tyler felt so uncomfortable; with the entire situation with his friends he forgot that the little book he wrote for himself got leaked to the CIM and a lot of people read it. Tyler scratched his cheek in embarrassment. ‘’Y-you know that thing is nothing special it only has rules I wrote for myself’’ Tyler said blushing. ‘’Why do you like it so much?’’ he asked her.

The girl thought for a bit and gestured to all her body. ‘’You see me? I was never the kind of girl who liked girl-like things, people didn’t like that very much’’ she said smiling kindly and placed a hand to her chest. ‘’But inside of me I couldn’t just dress with things I didn’t like to wear and I felt a lot of pain for the words I would hear. Then I found out I was magical and I hoped for things to get better but then after I learned a bit of the magical word and I learned that for being an irregular I will be discriminated again I felt scared.. I didn’t know if I wanted to learn about magic’’

She sat back down and took out her CIM. ‘’Someone gave me this crystal ball and I learned a lot of information of the magical world… and it was amazing but I was scared I didn’t knew if I wanted to subject myself to name calling and a lot of bad things again… but then I found your guide’’ she smiled kindly. ‘’I read it and a lot of rules said the same about believing in oneself and I realized that since the beginning that’s the only thing that could help me. Then I read about what you did and my mind was settled, I wanted to come here and learn about magic in the same school where you were’’ she said blushing at those last statements. ‘’It probably sounds silly I know! But really, that’s the reason I liked the guide so much, because not only for magic but for other things as well… it has helped me’’

Tyler took a moment to look at the girl, she held the guide to him and he took it and signed it. ‘’I really don’t think is anything special but if it has helped you realize that you are special the way you are… then I’m glad’’ he said making Grace Smile. ‘’Thanks! Ah, I knew that all of us first year irregulars will be fine at this school’’ she said putting the book back into her pocket pack.

‘’Are there some more irregulars at your class?’’ he asked looking at her like he suddenly found a little sister and the girl nodded. ‘’Yes! There is Dante, Virgilio, Vice, Gabriel, Amy, Nelly, Zacharias and Ophelia’’ she grinned.

‘’That’s a lot!’’ he grinned happy that many irregulars decided to study at Diaz. 

‘’Yes! And they were worried we might have a hard time but I believe things can get better with hard work’’   
‘’Why do you think you would have a hard time?’’

‘’Oh, well, we were worried we might be bullied and we tried to stick together as the guide said but…’’  
‘’But?’’

Grace looked at a table far from theirs and Tyler followed the sight, he looked at several kids sitting apart from each other on the same table; Zacharias and Ophelia among them.

‘’We don’t seem to get along, we have too different personalities, I don’t know if we are compatible’’ she said a little bit down. Tyler looked at the kids and assumed they were the irregulars that Grace mentioned before.

Tyler thought for a second, they did seemed different for each other, they were not even speaking to each other at all but they made no move to leave the table and that seemed to be something special for Tyler, it seemed like even if they were different they were sticking with each other because they knew they were stronger this way.

For some reason that made him think of Christopher for a bit, today he had behaved normally and that was kind of weird for him but if he could be sort of tolerable sometimes maybe there was hope for these kids as well.

‘’They will be fine, Grace, just believe in them for a bit and work hard, people have more in common that they have differences’’ he grinned feeling so much like his old self for a bit and finding he kind of missed it.  
Grace Smiled and nodded a couple times. ‘’I am so glad I got to speak with you’’ she said and resumed eating her food.  
.

As soon as Pamela sat on the table the flock of girls bothering Christopher ran away and hid somewhere else.

‘’You are pretty good at being a bitch if they run so fast’’ Christopher joked taking a bite of his food. Pamela mocked a smile. ‘’Want me to leave?’’ she asked making him deny with his head ‘’You are allowed to stay’’ he said and Pamela kicked him under the table, Christopher didn’t put on a face of pain he smirked a bit hiding the pain and they resumed with their food.

Pamela quickly noticed his good mood but refrained to mention it, ‘’so, the plan is going well?’’ she asked simply hoping it would give her the answer and for her good luck Christopher smiled ‘’It’s going great, we actually talked a little before breakfast, I got him away from his friends and got him to let out some steam, I mean look at him, he looks so relaxed now’’ he said grinning.

Pamela almost wanted to laugh, it was a while since she saw him smile this way, with a child-like wonder and excitement, for a second she thought that he finally realized his feelings but that thought flied away when Christopher said ‘’At this rate I will have him falling and then crashing hard into the ground in no time! I’m so good at scheming!’’ he cheered himself up and Pamela’s smile fell a bit.

Now she just wanted to punch him. She directed her sight towards Tyler to not let her disappointment show very much. Damn it was like Christopher was stupid or something! But maybe it was just that he was concentrating too much on trying to be an asshole that he was not realizing the fact that he was actually happy that he spoke normally with Tyler without his friends interfering.

Then she actually paid attention to Tyler, he actually looked more relaxed than yesterday when she caught a glimpse of him and he looked devastated for some reason; now he was sitting with a first year girl who dressed as a boy… then she found something familiar at the girl, not like she noticed her a first year before but there was something familiar in her. She then saw Tyler turned his sight towards another table and she followed that sight.

She saw a table with a bunch of first years sitting separated from each other and again there was something familiar about them. She counted them and there was something at the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite place so she concentrated on the oddest people in the table maybe the weirder people could spark her mind to think of the answer.

She saw two kids, one with white hair and another with pink hair with her eyes in bandages….  
Those two sparked her memory; she quickly looked at Christopher and spoke on a low voice.

‘’Christopher I want you to look at the girl who is sitting with Tyler and then at the table at the far corner. Aren’t those the people from your vision?’’  
Christopher looked and his face changed into a shock. ‘’didn’t you say that you thought the vision brought a bad omen?’’ she asked making his face change.

He suddenly got up from his seat. ‘’Beats me’’ he said and started to walk away. ‘’Don’t need a power that won’t help me personally’’ he said and went away.  
.  
Classes went… weird for Tyler,

He knew he didn’t share enough classes with his friends but right now while fighting he seemed to miss them even more in the classes they didn’t share.

Black Magic was being hell as usual; Mrs. Black kept asking him questions even when it was obvious he wanted to be left by himself but he did his best to answer them all which seemed to displease her a little bit, but he ignored her as much as he could as he listed on his notebook the ingredients of a curse that would make mushrooms grow all over a person’s house and then a small note floated onto his lap. He looked around and saw Christopher giving him a subtle wink.

He opened the note and found a doodle of Mrs. Black that moved around making a silly dance around several potions that exploded creating another drawing of a cloud and then turning Mrs. Black into a vulture. 

Tyler laughed under his hands trying to keep quiet and almost earned a scolding from Mrs. Black when she looked at him but he managed to pretend he was concentrating in his work and as soon as she turned both boys laughed under their breaths.

Something was telling Ty that Christopher was being weird and suspicious but he ignored it all the same, he was making him feel better and that mattered for something….Right? Right….

This kept on for a couple classes. Christopher would secretly send him some notes that would float to his lap, Tyler didn’t know how to respond with magic so he just wrote on a piece of parchment his answers hoping Christopher would see them from his seat and it seemed he did because he would send more notes.

The content of the notes were nothing important, it was Christopher making fun of people and the teachers and Tyler thought he was being kind of mean but it was funny to see the jokes and the insight of Christopher’s mind when he was not being an asshole towards him was also pretty interesting.

The classes that he did shared with his friends he spent so quiet and looking to his books that he looked honestly concentrated in school, even Christopher didn’t sent anything to him during those times.

Then they reached P.E. that was a class that he shared with Winnifred and Alex so he was worried it would be weird to see them. He went to the lockers located near the back field of the castle. He was changing and from the corner of his eye he saw Alex who used the locker next to his starting to change.

Tyler looked forward just unbuttoning his shirt and searching for his P.E. uniform, he noticed after a while that Alex finished changing and was trying to say something but nothing came out of his mouth. Finally he lightly placed his hand on his naked shoulder, even fighting the touch sent shivers down his spine.  
‘’I’m sorry, alright?’’ he said and then punched Tyler lightly on the arm before walking away.

Tyler smiled with a hint of sadness on his eyes, he sighed realizing that it wasn’t even 24 hours after the incident and he already missed him so much. He missed them all so much.

He finally located his shirt when again he saw from the corner of his eye that Christopher was looking at him with a look of intensity.

Just then Tyler realized they were alone in the lockers. Christopher kept looking at him as he put on his shirt and a smirk was painted on his lips, his stare looked at him up and down and he bit his lips in response of what he saw. Tyler didn’t had any clue whatsoever what the fuck was this right now but he let himself stare for a bit as he was being watched as well.

Christopher, at the far end of the room on the last locker was staring at him; he looked so fit on the uniform consisting of a white t-shirt and some black shorts with the school’s logo, Tyler saw him biting his lip a bit as he looked at him up and down and he felt himself getting embarrassed quickly. He changed and walked out just hearing a breathy laugh from Christopher as he passed by.

They ended up running a couple of laps around the castle before the teacher let the magicals learn more about soccer. By that moment Tyler was already tired so he walked inside smiling a bit at Winnifred who did a roundhouse kick and passed the ball through the arch in a second.

Normally he would just go and change but he had plenty of time so he decided to head back to the dorms and take a shower now that he was sure that nobody was close. He had to walk for a while but after he managed to reach the dorms he took a quick shower, changed and walked to his dorm to retrieve a book he forgot and found a note in the door.

‘At the beach, after school’ it read with a small doodle of Mrs. Black dancing like a marionette, Tyler laughed out loud finding that it was the first time he laughed in a bit…. It felt weird to have Christopher making him laugh like this but it didn’t felt wrong.

For some reason even if it felt weird… it was not wrong…

He walked out of the dorms ready to go to his next class when he crossed paths through a deserted hallway with the Bennett twins. Zachary was leading his sister with his hand as she talked happily about something, most of her pink hair covering the bandages on her eyes.

Tyler had felt a weird vibe from them for a while but he pushed it back since he was in a good mood and went to say hello.

‘’Hi! Zachary and Ophelia right? I’m Tyler, your dad introduced us’’ he said merrily making the girl direct her head towards the sound and nodding happily with her head. Zachary bowed respectfully almost like he was a butler and feeling this next to her Ophelia also bowed lifting the sides of her skirt like a skilled maid.

‘’Nice to meet you, again’’ she said and he just nodded silently. His demeanor remembered Tyler to Winn a little bit but Winn had a much more expressive face and more readable eyes while Zachary just looked like he was made of ice and his blue stare looked like cold pools of water.

‘’How are you liking your classes?’’ he asked trying to lift the mood a little bit, Ophelia jumped a bit excitedly, I love it! Who knew that learning about magic could be so fun! I want to learn how to make potions quickly and how to summon dancing!’’ she said stumbling a bit after jumping so much, Zachary held her in place and answered. ‘’It’s fine, classes are interesting enough. Thanks for the question’’ he said plainly almost machine-like.

‘’Are there any you particularly like?’’ Tyler asked him. ‘’No’’ he said plainly. It seemed like whatever he could say, Tyler wouldn’t be able to stablish a proper conversation with him so he directed his efforts towards his sister.

And you Ophelia?’’ He smiled at her, the girl thought it over for a second. ‘’Dancing, singing and spirits, I want to learn all about them and I might get better when my eyes get better!’’ she grinned.

Zachary finally seemed to lift a small smile when he saw her but then directed his cold stare towards Tyler. ‘’Her eyes are cursed’’ he explained with the same monotone voice, but something told Tyler that his stare held something more. ‘’She is to take a potion every few months to help her see but we ran out of it just before school started, she will have one ready in a few weeks’’ he stared as if he was searching or testing something on Tyler’s face.

Tyler tried to ignore the stare and directed himself towards Ophelia again, he placed a hand towards the fringe of hair between her hat and forehead and smiled. ‘’Congratulations on seeing again soon, I guess’’ he laughed a bit, Ophelia felt something fluttering inside and she held his hand with softness. ‘’Thank you’’ she sighed as she kept smiling. ‘’You are as kind as I expected you to be’’

Before Tyler could inquiry about that he heard a groan from Zachary, he turned to see him looking away from them. ‘’Yeah, well we wouldn’t be in this problem if Rory had bothered to make your potion’’ he said, his monotone voice still sounded cold but this time held something else… was that… hatred?  
Tyler’s mood flew out the window.

‘’Zae!’’ Ophelia reprimanded her brother. ‘’Don’t talk like that about daddy!’’ she said.   
‘’He is not our dad, his husband is, Rory is nothing else than another sign to the adoption papers’’ he said cold like a stone.

Tyler felt himself getting angry.

‘’He is our dad! Stop calling him another sign to the papers, he is good to us, he love us, I love him why can’t you?’’ she said almost yelling at this point.

‘’Love? How can you love someone who is selfish’’

Tyler felt angrier.

‘’Self-centered’’

He felt rage.

‘’Fake smiling monster like him’’

Tyler felt something sad inside him, he saw the face of Rory, the one who took him shopping for school, who takes care of him and the school, who gets angry when they are putting themselves in danger, who smiles at every kid like they were their own, the one who smiled so proudly when Tyler introduced him to his children… he saw that face turning into sadness if he were to hear these words from his son.

 

Ģ̸̨̛̻̙̼̟͓̪̫͐͑̆̅̆͒ͩ̑̌ͨͭ̒͢Ȩ̶̴̢̹̙̬̞̝̗̳̜̦͔̠̬͎ͣ͗̄͗͐͆̉͗̒̌̄͌͌͟ͅT͂̾̃̒̓͐͏̡͍̜̝̳̮͍̜͓̭̭͎͝ ͓̩̺͕̱̩͎̭͎̦̘͙͈͑̀ͣͧ́ͧͭ̃̎ͭ͘͡H̿ͦ̉̓҉͏̻̦̣̬̠Į̴͖̰͕͇̣͕̬͂ͦͯ̔͛̔̾͆ͣ̕͝M̡̢͖͎̪͇̪̪̙̙̩̰̹͓̞̻̗̗̖̀̆̇ͨ̉̔̓ͫ̎̌ͪ͐̚̚̚

 

The voice said and he just saw red, he went and lifted Zachary from his collar and pressed him against the wall, Zachary finally wore another expression as he now looked surprised and scared. 

‘’Do not say another word against Rory!’’ he yelled with a voice he almost didn’t recognize.

‘’W-What is happening? Zae? Tyler?’’ Ophelia asked behind them unable to see the scene. 

‘’Ophelia step away’’ Zachary said still trying to use his cold voice. ‘’Why do you care, who are you but a stranger’’ he asked to Tyler who slammed him against the wall again.

‘’He took care of me, he held me when my parents went missing, he smiled to me, lifted me through the see when I felt sad, he help me understand my magic, he is my friend’’ Tyler yelled at Zachary.

‘’You….your friend….’’ Zachary said, not asked, he just said it.

‘’If you have a problem with him talk to him! Make him listen to you but try to fix it but I will not allow you to make my friend sad, if he hears you saying those awful things he will be sad! So stop it!’’ he yelled, his voice frantic.

‘’What do you know about me to tell me what to do?’’ Zachary asked again cold.  
‘’All I know is that I lost it all in a day and he was there to protect me!’’ he said looking straight into his eyes.

Zachary eyes widened at that, he seemed taken aback by that for some reason and he looked like he was thinking about something.

‘’He might be hot headed when we do something wrong but he wants to protect us, all of us, and the look on his face when he introduce you to us, he was so proud of you, how can you say that about him?’’  
He blinked a couple times but didn’t say anything.

Behind him, Ophelia kept asking him to let him go, that it was alright and Tyler almost heard to her pleas but it wasn’t her voice what made him let go of Zacharias.

There was a laugh near them, it was an older boy with a couple more laughing behind him. ‘’The freaks are fighting’’ one laughed.

Tyler recognized them immediately.

There was an incident last year when one of the boys who got kidnapped, Timothy Payne, a third year prefect and one of his friends got punched in the gut on the hallways. Tyler happened to witness it all and the person who did this was this boy.

A sixth year boy who Tyler either didn’t know or didn’t remember the name of; he was laughing at them with the same malice on his face he used when he punched Timothy.

‘’What did you just call us?’’ Tyler asked, his eyes still seeing red due the anger.

‘’Freaks! Isn’t that what you are? And what happened did you finally grew tired of attacking pure magicals and decided to attack each other instead?’’ he taunted.

Tyler was angry and the anger only grew.

He understood in a second that it was for this person… ‘’It was you… all of you’’ he said.

‘’What’s that? I couldn’t hear you, fucking freak!’’ they laughed and pointed their wands at them ready to shoot them with some curse. Tyler placed himself in front of the two younger students.

‘’T-Tyler?’’ Asked Ophelia scared.

‘’Zachary, take your sister and lay low’’ he ordered and even when Zachary was still deep in his thoughts of what Tyler said he reacted at the mention of his sister and obeyed.

Yes… in Tyler’s mind, he understood, for him it was the real reason… the real reason that Timothy made the choice to leave with his kidnappers without even fighting it was because of this all of this.

Older boys who are supposed to look after the young ones, looking away, insulting them, threatening them just because they are something they can’t control, something that they have no choice of.

Yes, in Tyler’s mind this was the reason ‘’you are the reason Timothy left’’ he said lowering his head. His eyes dark as voids now.

‘’What was that? Oh that freak?! Thank gods he left, I couldn’t take his pathetic face anymore around my school’’ he said with disgust.

‘’You are the reason this is all wrong…’’ Tyler mumbled and nobody noticed how a shadow climbed down from his neck and down his clothes to the ground and a snake of shadows went towards the boys, grabbed two by the neck and threw them against the walls.

His eyes were black but he was not looking at them, for them it seemed like Tyler just casted some sort of curse; the sixth year boy who punched Timothy quickly pulled out his wand and pointed towards Tyler.  
‘’Are you going to curse me now?’’ Tyler asked, his voice sounding like several voice as one.

‘’Stay away you freak!’’ he yelled as he shot the first curse and missed Tyler just by a bit.

Tyler started to walk towards him.

‘’Want to curse me? Go ahead!’’ he said as he kept walking and the boy shoot another curse at him and it hit him in the right shoulder, Tyler kept walking as his shoulder became twisted and a painful looking sharp object came out of it like a bone or a horn that pierced his skin. ‘’I will take everything! Every curse every pain, I will take them all in order to stand up in front of people like you, people who hurt my friend’’  
Tyler walked to the shocked student, he looked lost and scared and then Tyler grabbed the student’s wand…’’So do your worst’’ he said and snapped the wand with his clenched fingers. 

A bright shining light came from the action, Tyler breaking the wand sent whatever curse the boy was going to cast all over and sent the student flying to the air towards a nearby window and onto the courtyard.  
Zachary was on the ground, keeping his sister safe he raised his face when he stopped hearing the fight, he could see a cloud of smoke and his sister quickly asked. ‘’What is wrong? What happened?’’

Zachary opened his eyes wide as he saw the cloud dissipate, there Tyler was standing with breathing heavily, he turned to see the two of them and whatever agresivenes he had before had disappeared, he was looking angry but all of the feelings of danger and fear Zachary felt during the recent fight were gone.

‘’I will not let them hurt you, none of you, ever again’’ he declared and then Zachary finally looked at his arm.

Tyler was breathing heavily and looking angry and his arm was heavily cursed. It had black horns growing all over the skin, a big size with skin ripping and bleeding on several places, it was swollen and it looked like it belonged to a monster with what it seemed like crystals stuck on the flesh and veins pulsating with something purple and painful looking.

Still Tyler didn’t winced for several seconds until it seemed like all his strength gave out along with the adrenaline that was keeping him from feeling too much pain and he collapsed sitting to the ground holding his cursed arm.

‘’Zae, what happened?’’ Ophelia asked again.

‘’He…saved us’’ Zacharias answered after a while.  
.

Tyler recognized the smell of medicine immediately, it was sweet and kind of sickening and it was so strong that it was what brought him into consciousness. After a few seconds he opened his eyes fully and sat on the bed, he recognized this place it was the infirmary where he was brought after that spell hit him at the end of the attacks of last term.

Ty looked around and quickly saw Rory sitting on a chair next to him looking surprised but not angry, sad or worried, he smiled and resumed what he seemed to be doing before Tyler woke up and kept cross stitching some fabric in his hands.

‘’Good morning, little one’’ he smiled gently.

The memories came to Tyler suddenly and he quickly jumped to the edge of the bed. ‘’Your children! Are they alright?!’’ he asked desperately but Rory looked at him calmly and smiled again. ‘’You took so many curses to your arm, just for them, I could never thank you enough’’ he said.

Tyler then remembered his arm and took several looks at it, the curses were gone now, his arm didn’t looked swollen at all and at a closer inspection he saw a small tread that was spreading from this veins towards somewhere else, he followed the direction of the threads with his eyes and saw that Rory was using the thread to knit something.

‘’It’s an old technique to treat curses, you thread them in a pattern on some fabric and before you know it they are gone, these kind of curses that were used on you were somewhat weak compared to others so this method works wonders on them’’ he said and showed the patter to Ty.

It was a knitted pattern of several imps dancing around a fire on some woods, they looked happy and not threatening at all.

Tyler relaxed as he even found that there wasn’t much pain on the process, sure it hurt a little bit when the thread would be pulled from his veins but it was a small stinging pain, like the one you get from a recent cut.

The treat was actually thinning out a bit and it seemed like the magical pattern was almost done, Tyler felt like there was someone else who was missing to join those curses on the party around the fire in their woods but then he heard the voice asking Tyler to stop Rory.

‘’I think I’m fine now’’ Tyler said grabbing his arm immediately, Rory looked surprised at this and stared at the arm for a bit, examining it for a few moments but it were just a couple of seconds before he agreed that it seemed fine. ‘’If it still hurts later you come and tell me, alright?’’ he asked and Ty nodded.

Rory pulled some red scissors from his pockets and cut the thread, in a second the thread vanished from his veins.

Rory showed the pattern knitted to Tyler and smiled. ‘’Some people keep their curses as ornaments, they treat them like some sort of badge of honor for conquering curses, if you want we can keep this one’’ He asked.

Tyler thought for a moment and he couldn’t recollect the incident well but he remembered he didn’t liked how it felt to confront the older boys. He felt something dark and angry inside that he could not describe and he didn’t liked it very much.

‘’I don’t think I want to keep this one’’ Tyler said.

‘’Alright, but if you change your mind it will be on Mr. Romero’s office, he sorts of studies these kinds of patterns as each knitted pattern is unique… it’s kind of his hobby’’ he said and putted the pattern on his bag that was next to the chair where he was sitting. His face then turned a little bit somber…

‘’Tyler, I have to ask you now, what happened? My children are not telling me anything, Ophelia just told me you got really angry at Zachary for some reason and then you defended them from those older boys’’ He asked, clearly worried.

Tyler started to ponder for a few seconds; he really didn’t remember much of what happened so that’s what he said. ‘’I don’t really remember much, I just remember that I was really angry at your son and then those guys appeared they said some mean things, some awful things that made me think it was the reason Timothy said yes to leaving with the other irregulars so easily and that made me angrier… I think something happened with my powers and I lost control’’ he said as they were most of the things he could recall.  
‘’What did Zachary said that made you so mad?’’ Rory asked.

Tyler felt a little apprehensive to tell him the truth but he felt like it was the right thing to do right now. ‘’He… said some mean stuff… about you, some nasty things that I didn’t like and that I felt you didn’t deserve so I got angry, really angry and I know it was not right but even if he is your son he doesn’t have the right to say those things to you’’ he said looking down and when Rory didn’t said anything he lifted up his gaze to catch Rory looking at him with sad eyes but a kind smile.  
‘’So… he still hasn’t forgiven me…’’ he mumbled. 

‘’Forgive you for what?’’ Tyler asked.

Rory took a deep breath and scooted closer with his chair. ‘’My husband and I, we adopted our children just a month before the riots started, at that moment both kids were still feeling very aware of us and in that moment I was deployed to defend civilians on the streets’’ he explained, he looked up like he was remembering something really sad and continued. ‘’Ophelia understood quickly, she has always been kindhearted and very forgiving, Zachary on the other hand was upset that I left all day and came back pretty late, my husband was trying very hard to help them and keep them entertained but there was only so much he could do by himself… and then on one protective mission I was hit on the head with a curse’’ he explained and then looked down like he was ashamed. ‘’I thought that it was nothing, that it might just be a small thing but it was more dangerous than I expected’’ Rory looked directly at his eyes. ‘’It was a slow burnt curse, the curse started to eat at my brain filling it with darkness and attacking my heart filling it with hate, a day I came back home and I could not stand any sound, any sight… I ended up attacking my husband, I took several shots at him and even tried to punch him, not being in control of my body and my feelings I was quickly restrained by him and the proper curse breakers were called home to deal with me… but my children saw everything’’ he sighed.

‘’…Rory...’’ Tyler started but he stopped him quickly, wanting to finish his story, Rory kept going. ‘’Ophelia understood, she said that it was the curse’s fault but Zach was having trouble forgiving me, in his eyes I was the guy who left for a long time and then came back to attack his dad, he still hasn’t forgiven me for that and I understand where his words come from’’ he said his eyes getting watery.

Ty quickly went to him and grabbed his hands. ‘’It’s not your fault that you got attacked, that you got hurt… if you think about it that curse probably wanted to harm you and your family and if you are still suffering from what happened then the curse will still win… you should wait for him to understand… and then you should also forgive yourself’’ he smiled.

Rory looked at him like he was so happy yet so sad, he hugged him and held him close. ‘’You are a good boy, Ty, you don’t deserve the things that are happening to you’’ he said and then looked at him straight in the eyes again. ‘’I will forgive myself and wait for Zach to do the same… then your parents will be found and everything will be fine for both… deal?’’ he smiled and even though Tyler wasn’t so sure about the part about his parents he tried to smile back. ‘’Deal’’ he said.

Feeling better Tyler decided to get up and saw the clock on the wall that indicated that classes would soon be over and he remembered the appointment he had with Christopher. For some reason it didn’t sit well with him to make him wait so he excused himself with Rory assuring him that he was alright and walked to the door.

But Rory stopped him one last time. ‘’Ty, that anger you said you felt… are you sure you are alright?’’ he asked and Tyler listened to the voice and said. ‘’I’m alright’’ he smiled but then before going out of the door he turned to ask Rory… ‘’Did you knew about Husky being a ward?’’ he asked and Rory gave him what it was probably the straightest answer he had received yet. ‘’Yes’’ he said plainly looking at him with an air of respect.

For some reason Tyler didn’t felt as mad at Rory as he felt at his friends, maybe because he didn’t want to see him sad again if he were to fight with him or maybe because those eyes and that look of respect was giving him more than the shame of lying his friends showed on their own eyes.

‘’can you… explain it to me later?’’ he asked and Rory nodded. ‘’Yes, anything for you, little one’’ he said.  
Ty nodded and walked out of the infirmary.  
.

Tyler sneaked out of the castle easily and walked through the path on the woods that were leading him to the beach where he would always take the boat home last year.

It felt weird not having to take this path every day to get back home and it felt a little painful, not being able to see the sea every day, not being able to feel the breeze and smell the salt in the air, not being able to see his parents after school… all those things felt incredibly painful.

He tried not to dwell into things too much, he also tried not to get so angry at the fact that it has been a couple days now and he still hasn’t heard anything from the authorities, no leads no words not even the names of the people searching for his parents.

Reaching the beach he stopped for a second… he wondered if they would be able to find his parents… and what kind of people they were, if they were not trying to contact him to give them more information about his parents or the suspects then how could he trust them to do anything.

For a moment he wondered if he should… try to find them himself.

He walked to the docks where he would usually take the boat back home; the boat was nowhere to be seen now that all students were required to be boarding students. He felt kind of sad but then tried to look around to see if he could be able to find Christopher around.

Surprisingly he found him quickly sitting under a tree on the sand near the water; he was looking straight at him with a playful smirk on his face.

And for some reason Tyler felt his heart skip a beat.

Ty walked towards him. ‘I was afraid you wouldn’t make it, I heard you had some kind of trouble, are you alright?’’ Christopher asked. ‘’I got my hand cursed by some older guys but I’m better now’’ he said showing his hand that was looking a little bit red but there were no curses to be seen.  
Christopher however took his arm and examined closely.

It occurred to Tyler that he didn’t recalled if he’d ever touched Christopher like this or if he had ever touched him at all.

His touch felt like electricity and he had to take his arm away quickly.

Christopher felt the same electricity and tried not to felt a rush to his face and tried to push the electric feeling away from his fingertips because maybe that way he would be able to try and stop himself from touching Tyler again.

‘’I’m alright!’’ Tyler said quickly and Christopher nodded leaving his hand alone.

Today has been a kind of torture for Christopher, or so he says, since the beginning of the day he has been following Pamela’s instructions about having Tyler trust him, the first step was showing him that he could not be as mean as he was the second step was to get him alone and talk about his problems and the third one get him to make up with his friends since that would build more trust between Tyler and himself.  
He kind of hated the part of having to deal with Tyler getting back to his friends since he still think that they are lame but if that’s what it took he was willing to make a sacrifice…

The thing with the shirtless Tyler at the lockers was rough. Pamela suggesting a little bit of seductiveness into the plan would help but he was having so much trouble staring at him, feeling his body heat up at the sight. Sure he’d seen Tyler like that before, it was last term when he sneaked behind a window looking into the classroom where Tyler’s friends were watching through the CIM and they showed a picture of an almost naked Tyler. And then on the locker rooms and on the baths… just the sight of him was waking weird things inside him and he would love it if it would stop but it didn’t.

Christopher walked to the roots of the tree and sat on a big one and waited for Tyler to take a seat as well. Tyler sat on another root in front of him.

Christopher tried to remember all the cheesy lines he practiced with Pamela when they were reviewing the plan, she came with the idea that one-liners and weird cheesy phrases could cause some good reactions but right now he couldn’t think of anything.

Christopher was too caught up on his eyes to think about anything.

There was something, something weird about this boy and he didn’t knew what it was, he was an irregular and that was awful yeah but there was something else and he didn’t know what it was, Tyler didn’t had the best looks, nor the best body or brain but there was something that Christopher couldn’t help but feel that would draw him to him…

But this was not about that feeling, this was about his plan to get back his pride and humiliate him so he tried his best to ignore all he was feeling at having Tyler alone right now and concentrate on the plan.  
‘’What’s up with you?’’ Tyler asked looking at him, Christopher cleared his throat and smirked. ‘’What do you mean?’’ he asked acting innocent.

‘’Today, you’ve been acting… different, like you are going out of your way to be nice… why is that?’’ Tyler asked.

Christopher tore out his gaze and prepared himself to lie. ‘’So it has come to my attention that I might be… hard with my words, sometimes…’’ he said.

‘’that’s a way to put it, yeah’’ Tyler snorted but he didn’t seemed necessarily mad or like he found out the lie so Christopher kept going.

‘’Ha-ha! Thanks for the vote of confidence, Suarez’’ he smirked. ‘’It might come to my attention that I might be rude sure and believe me I don’t have many intentions to change that part of me, but…’’  
‘’But?’’

Christopher took a breath and he finally looked at him right in the eyes ‘’But I saw you getting upset yesterday… more than when I bother you and I didn’t like to see you like that… I hated seeing you like that’’ he lied… or not… maybe…

Tyler blinked several times before the words hit him and he blushed. ‘’W-why do you care?’’ he asked. Christopher then found that Tyler blushed really hard around his cheeks and nose… he kind of wanted to keep that blush going.

‘’Something about you, intrigues me, Suarez’’ he said leaning forward, Tyler leaned back and took a breath. ‘’There is something about you that I want to understand… so for now what do you say if we call a truce?’’ he winked an eye and leaned back once again.

Tyler recovered a bit after that. ‘’T-truce? Why… do you want to be friends or something? I thought you hated irregulars’’ he asked.

Christopher laughed. ‘’Of course I hate them! There is no doubt about that but you… you are different somehow, there is something about you being different than other irregulars and I want to understand what it is… but I still have a reputation to maintain so for now, if you accept, we can… meet in secret?’’ he asked with a devilish smirk.

Tyler felt his heart pound a bit but he tried to calm down, after all even if he was still fighting with him, Alex was the boy Tyler liked and he was not about to develop some weird feeling for a guy who was making some hot expressions at him.

‘’So what, is this some sort of secret friendship?’’ he asked looking away.

‘’Call if that if you want, maybe we can learn a lot from each other’’ he rested his cheek on his arm and stared at Tyler who dared to look back.

Damn, he still didn’t like Christopher but he was cute as hell. ‘’I can… try that, yeah… not like I have many friends right now’’ he said.

Then Christopher took his shot at that. ‘’Come on, I always thought your heart was bigger than that, Suarez’’ he said.

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’I mean, you had always been some sort of force of good, helping people, seeing if they are alright, working hard and not giving up… annoyingly stubborn if you ask me… and a friend… if your heart is as big as I think it is I believe that whatever they did you would’ve forgiven them by now’’ Christopher said, he got up and sat next to Tyler, he looked at him and sitting next to him Tyler noticed that he probably grew a little bit taller than the last time he saw him.

Christopher forced himself to go back to the electricity his body felt and nudged Tyler on the shoulder with his arm. ‘’You are better than this, so just talk to them’’ he said.

Tyler thought for a second, he didn’t know what kind of astronomical change Christopher went in a day but there was something right about his words, Tyler was better than all this fighting and this anger he was feeling… there was something weird that made him feel at ease right now and made the voice inside his head retreat.

‘’Besides, you look prettier when you are not so sad’’ Christopher smirked.

‘’Alright! You are making fun of me now’’ Tyler got up hiding his red face and walked to the edge of the water.

‘’Come on! I can joke around, can’t I?’’ Christopher laughed and went after him. ‘’So want to tell me finally what got you so upset?’’ he asked.

Tyler looked at him and maybe it was because they didn’t know each other that much but he felt like Christopher would listen.

So he told him everything.  
.

It was pretty late at night and Husky was still staring at the ceiling, he was still unable to sleep and his eyes were still puffy and red, he felt a headache and ache on his stomach, probably due from the dehydration of spending the day crying and not eating a thing. He didn’t went to class and his parents tried to contact him after the school talked to them when he didn’t show up but he just yelled at them that Tyler knew and that this was all their fault and blocked their numbers.

He kept the phone on however, he needed to know if Lucia had any more news of the situation and he kept the parchment next to him in case Tyler would write, but the parchment was wet with his tears now and it felt fragile but he wanted to keep it close just in case.

So he was unable to sleep, probably from being hungry and for being so sad and worried. He was about to find a dry piece of parchment to write again but found the scribbling sound that came out of nowhere startled him.

He quickly sat on the bed feeling dizzy from the blood rushing to his head and tried to keep the dark dots on his vision away and read the paper.

‘Meet me at the clearing’

Said the words and Husky got out of his dorm room so fast he didn’t care to put on many clothes on.  
Almost like a repeat of last term when Husky jumped from a window chasing after the feeling of Tyler being in danger, Husky tried to keep as quiet as he could as he jumped through another window on the hallway outside the dorms of Brighton.

He fell softly on the ground and barefooted ran towards the clearing.

He ran and he ran through the woods and under the night sky just dashing following his instincts until he was finally able to reach the clearing and then he saw him sitting on the roots of the tree where they hid from the rocks before. 

Tyler looked at him and got up and then ran towards him, Husky didn’t know what to think but he did the same and they found themselves in the middle of the clearing hugging each other, Husky clinging onto him like he was all he needed to live and Tyler holding sighing with a relief he hadn’t felt in a while.

Husky kept muttering apologies over and over but Tyler kept assuring him that he forgive him and repeated it again and again as well.

After a few minutes they ended lying on the ground, holding hands and looking at the moon.  
‘’Husky… what exactly is a ward?’’ Tyler asked after a while. ‘’Can you explain it to me? I want to understand it, I want to understand you’’ he said.

Husky nodded and started to explain. ‘’There are, several dimensions that are in contrast with this mortal world, the meta-world is one of them, according to what I’ve been told there are seven dimensions that have been accessed by magical humans, there is a dimension made of spirits that are far more powerful than magicals, sometimes these spirits can visit other worlds and they take the shape of animals to do so since they cannot maintain their original form on the worlds that are not their own. These spirits take the form of huge beasts or normal animals to stay and travel for whatever reason they need, they are respected and in some worlds they are treated as gods’’ He turned to look at Tyler who did the same. ‘’Sometimes if a spirit is given a great service like being saved by some human or by making a great sacrifice to them they might swear to protect that human, that’s when they are officially called wards because they protect the human that gave them the service, they swear to protect, serve and be by their side forever’’ Then Husky grabbed his hands. ‘’Your great grandfather did a great service to my parents a long, long time ago and they swore their lives to protect not only him but the whole magical line of your family as well’’ he explained.

‘’What did my great grandfather did?’’ Tyler asked and then another question came to mind. ‘’But if your family is supposed to protect mine then why don’t I have any memory of your family before you moved to town?’’ he asked.

‘’I don’t know what your great grandfather did but I do know that when your great grandfather married and had his child and they turned out not to be magical then the promise to protect the magical lineage wouldn’t hold, then your father was born and he turned out not to be magical and then… your great grandfather disappeared and my parents who were not bound to their promise any longer had to leave your family’’ he said and then sat on the ground. ‘’According to what my parents told me they ended up staying behind on this mortal world taking the shape of humans and then they had me, after that they felt the pull of the promise again and it turned out that it was because your mom was pregnant with you’’ he smiled. ‘’then they took a while to track your family down again until they found them on Seagull City and that’s when we moved there, so my parents could be close to you and pass their promise to protect your lineage to me’’ 

‘’So then, my parents knew?’’ he asked.

‘’I don’t know, I didn’t ask my parents but I guess that could be possible since they knew about you being magical when you started to show signs of magic, I don’t know why they kept it quiet though’’ Then Husky suddenly grabbed Tyler by the shoulders and sat him up next to him.

‘’Ty, everything that has happened since we met, that was me, I need you to know this, it’s not because of the promise my family has to protect yours, I found out that I was not human after you told me you were transferring schools to Diaz’ you have to believe me’’ He said with his eyes pleading for understanding.  
Tyler smiled and nodded. ‘’That… that must’ve been awful for you, finding out you were not human’’ he said with a smile but sad eyes. Husky nodded ‘’Man! It was terrible! And I was so afraid to tell you because… I don’t know I thought you would hate me and then right when we fought because you found out I was so scared! I thought you hated me because I’m not human’’

Tyler quickly stopped him. ‘’Husky of course not! Whatever you are, human or not, you are my friend, I was angry that you lied to me not that you are not human or whatever’’ Tyler hugged him and held him close. 

‘’You are you, Husky. My best friend and the person I trust the most, I’m sorry I gave you reasons to think that you could not tell me this’’ he apologized.

Husky denied with his head. ‘’Don’t apologize, I should’ve told you but then I was so confused as well, I thought for a while that I wanted to be close to you just because of the promise to protect your lineage but then...’’ he stopped for a second. ‘’Then?’’ urged Tyler. ‘’Then I realized, I like you because of you, not because of some promise my parents did to your family or whatever, I love you because you are you, you are kind and strong and brave and my favorite person in the world’’ Husky grinned at him.

Tyler felt his face getting red and let out a breathy laugh and tore his gaze away from Husky.

There were so many questions he wanted to ask. ‘’The beast… that was you, is that your form in this world?’’ he asked.

‘’Well, my parents are wolves on their animal form that is supposed to be my shape as well but I’m still unable to reach it, for now I just turn into some beast man or something’’ Husky said and showed Tyler a silver necklace he had on his neck. ‘’These silver necklaces serve to maintain my human form in case I get upset and start to show my animal form, I broke one when I ran towards you guys in the forest and I turned into the beast’’ he explained.

‘’This is so crazy but’’ Tyler thought for a moment before nodding to himself and looking at Husky. ‘’I need you, Husky; I need you by my side… I realized something and I’m going to need your help, your friendship… I’m going to need my brother, alright?’’ he asked and even when the friendship word broke Husky’s heart a bit the brother part made him feel so special he tried to push his feelings away.

‘’What do you need, anything I’m here for you, not only as a ward but as your friend’’ he said firmly.  
‘’First…’’ Tyler took out his phone and looked at the clock. ‘’They should be arriving soon’’ 

As on cue several sounds surrounded them and crossing over the worlds there were Lucia, Alex, Winnifred and Winn. They all looked at each other strangely and then looked at the two on the grass.

Tyler got up and looked at them. He nodded firmly ‘’I need you all, we are going to find my parents’’ he said as a cold wind brushed through the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE WE GO!  
> alright another long one i always write a lot because i feel its not enough for a chapter but then i was thinking:  
> lets get this plot moving people! WE *clap* HAVENT *clap* GOT *clap* ALL*clap* DAY *clap*!


	5. Chapter 5: The Squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I keep realizing that once i start i cannot finish!  
> i always end up writting long chapters SIGH!  
> whatever guys, please enjoy this one!

Chapter 5

The Squad

The idea came after the conversation Tyler had with Christopher, they walked for a while on that beach where Tyler told him about everything that happened, the fire, the sudden roller-coaster his life had, the lies from his friends and the Ward thing with Husky, he also talked a lot about Husky, about his friendship and how much he meant to him and how him lying hurt so much.

And surprisingly Christopher just listened, he seemed attentive in the parts of the fire and what happened before it, he seemed interested when he told him about the lies and specially attentive at the part of the ward but he seemed a little bit more bored when he spoke about his friendship but he listened nonetheless.

And then he spoke. He talked about how impressed he was with Tyler, he rubbed his head and let out a small laugh running his hand through the mess of dark curls that was his hair and as the sun was setting down making his blue eyes look like the sea he said. ‘’You are more impressive than anyone I know’’ he said softly and got closer to him.

Then he talked about the fire, how it was a lousy situation but he needed to stop sulking so much, if they hadn’t found their parents then they must be alright, the possibility is there… now if he hasn’t had any contact of the officers it would probably come soon, he told Tyler to trust them a little bit more and then talked about his friends.

‘’They are shit’’ he said rolling his eyes. ‘’But they are your friends and I haven’t seen a group of people loving someone so much before’’ he grinned. Then he touched the subject of the ward. ‘’That is what I mean! You have… you have so many things no other people have, a ward is a sign of power and respect among our kind and they always announce themselves as wards so people know not to mess with the magical they are protecting… that’s why I believe that your ‘friend’…’’ (He rolled his eyes at that part) ‘’ was only worried of how you would react, he probably would announce to everyone he was a ward that is sworn to protect you but he didn’t he waited to tell you because he cares about your reaction… he probably cares a lot about you’’ he said.

Tyler decided… at that moment that whatever possessed Christopher to act like this was something of a blessing… it turned out the boy was actually smart with his words when he wasn’t using them to insult people.  
Tyler was only disagreeing with one part. ‘’I’m still worried about the officers though’’ he said making Christopher hum a bit. ‘’You know… don’t tell anyone this, but I wanted to be an officer when I was little’’ he said and Tyler actually saw him blush a tiny bit.

‘’Really?’’ he asked in disbelief. 

‘’Really, and it was only when I found music that I changed my dreams, but the position has always been something I love and admire, so you should trust them a little bit more’’ he nudged him on the shoulder.

Tyler thought for a second and remembered when they were at the docks before coming to the school when he saw how Christopher talked to an officer and seemed embarrassed about it. Tyler thought of that as Christopher tapping a bit into his childhood dream.

And for a moment he thought it was adorable.

‘’And who knows! Those jerks were here to kidnap the irregulars but maybe if you find something out you can help the investigation’’ Christopher mentioned absentmindedly and that clicked a memory on Tyler’s mind.  
He quickly got up from where he sat, ‘’that is it, I think I got it now!’’ he said and hugged Christopher so suddenly the boy froze in place. ‘’Oh, thank you, thank you! I will make sure to repay you for all of this…’’ he let go and smiled softly at him. ‘’You know… if you were more like this I could also believe that you are awesome’’ he joked and Christopher pushed him away softly. ‘’I’m the fucking best, don’t you forget that!’’ he yelled but at that moment he could only stare at the figure of Tyler running back towards the castle.

Tyler didn’t know but a warm feeling embraced Christopher at that moment and it made him stare at the figure leaving him on the beach for a while longer than he expected.  
.

Tyler made it back to the castle and quickly summoned Nox to send a note to each of his friends, he didn’t explain anything but he wrote that he needed them to be at the clearing where they were attacked on the mortal world, he pointed the time and started to set a plan in motion.

And here they were, Tyler and Husky all surrounded by their friends each looking into each other’s faces like they were waiting for someone to point out the situation.

And it was Winn who did it. ‘’What kind of nonsense is that?’’ he asked as cold as always, Tyler was sure he was going to hear some kind of questions from them but he didn’t expect this one.

Winnifred quickly added to it, ‘’I’m sorry, Ty, I’m sure he is just confused and so am I. After all, how are we going to find your parents?’’ she asked looking awkwardly.

‘’…You found something’’ Said Alex after a second looking strangely at Tyler with an expression that read both concerned and interested.

Tyler looked at them all and he raised his hand. ‘’I need to say this first…. I hate being lied to… but I hate to fight with you even more than that’’ he said and the first person he walked up to wrap around his arms was Lucia and she gasped a bit and hugged him back, she latter proceeded to sob for a bit while whispering her apologies and Tyler tried to explain to her that he understood, that Husky finally spoke about it.

He also apologized and they all did and even when it was still awkward and there was a tension on the air, Tyler felt slightly relieved. 

‘’I should’ve heard you, guys. Or let you try to explain things to me, I just don’t know why I’m so… angry all the time now’’ he said trying to explain the feeling that has been creeping behind his head all this time. ‘’I’m sorry I hurt you’’ he said to Lucia and she smiled at him with her kindest smile. ‘’I should’ve never been scared of you, and It’s alright to feel angry, we all feel it and you’ve been through a lot! Sure I didn’t like to be pushed down but all I’m saying is that I get it’’ she said.

But she didn’t get it at all, she didn’t get how the darkness was creeping inside him and he wasn’t noticing it… like now on cue, the darkness hid inside his heart and Tyler forgot about it as soon as his feelings of being with his friends again appeared.

‘’But, Winn is kind of right, what nonsense is this?’’ Lucia questioned him. ‘’I mean, is Alex right? Did you found something?’’ she asked.

Tyler nodded and looked at them all but when he was about to open his mouth to explain a growl came from inside of Husky’s stomach and the boy sat on the ground embarrassed. ‘’…Did you eat?’’ asked Tyler, warning creeping on his voice. 

‘’I might’ve forgotten about it… I was too sad to eat?’’ he tried but Tyler was already next to him smacking him on the head. ‘’Denny Husk! How many times do I have to tell you that you need to eat properly! You are an athlete for crying out loud’’ he said and quickly looked for something on his pocket pack, he found some candy bars and chocolates that he gave Husky. ‘’Not exactly a proper meal, but it will have to do until you eat something’’

Husky took the food, ‘’Sorry, mom’’ he snickered and Tyler huffed a bit.

‘’Now where was I?’’ Tyler asked to himself and then he remembered, he took a book from the pocket pack and showed it to them all. ‘’I did found something!’’ he said grinning.

‘’When I wondered why those rioters attacked the school last year I asked the questions, why the school? Why our school? Surely they could take any other irregulars far more powerful and experienced from their homes and other schools where they were not expected but for some reason they went through great lengths to lead the most powerful teachers away and then come to take our school mates… and then I started to think like Pretty Princess Murder would do’’ he said and started to flip through the pages of the book.

‘’Pretty Princess? Well she would look at the case and wonder the pros and cons of the culprits taking certain route’’ Lucia said being far more familiar than the rest of the magical kids at the show’s plot.

Husky who also knew the show better started to voice his opinions between chewing sounds. ‘’She would think, why would the culprit take this route if this one was better, like if the question is why they didn’t went for irregulars far more powerful it might be because they were harder to convince, the kids they took were impressionable and easy to take’’ he chewed some chocolate.

‘’Well, yeah, that’s a con on taking more experienced irregulars’’ Winnifred mentioned. ‘’But a pro would be that they might also been treated unfairly for far longer and could add more things to their group than a mere group of inexperienced kids might add’’

‘’A con on taking the kids might be that they might be far more impressionable to the things the rioters do and they might get too scared to act on their ranks’’ Winn mentioned.

‘’A con would be that by taking kids, irregulars or not, the public might be on an outrage, sure the rioters want irregular supremacy but they need the sympathy of the public to triumph in the end, you can only get so far on politics with fear alone, you need charisma and get people to believe that you are the best option but who would want leaders that kidnap children’’ Alex mentioned thinking for a bit.

‘’Another con would be on how to keep them docile, sane and fed, if they want the kids to join their ranks they need to provide something to convince them in the end, some kind of waiver, otherwise when they get close enough… the kids might attack’’ Lucia thought for a bit. ‘’Fear… yes, fear can only get you so far before someone gets sick of feeling scared’’ she said.

‘’There are… more Cons than pros’’ Husky thought out loud and Tyler nodded.

‘’Yes! And that’s how I realized, there had to be another reason they chose the school to attack and kidnap, the kidnapping might’ve been just a distraction to led people to think that they just wanted the kids’’ Tyler said and then he showed them a picture from the book.

The whole group, except Husky, gasped in surprise.

‘’They came after something, something that had to do with her, I’m sure of it’’ Tyler said as he showed the picture of Elizabeth the Twisted.

There was an audible gasp from the group.

‘’Elizabeth the Twisted?’’ asked Husky out of the loop.

‘’She was a dark witch who lived a while ago, she did experiments with people and corpses that led to a massive killing spree on which five hundred people died just so she could use their bodies as experiments’’ Winn explained, the moon hiding behind clouds and shut the light on his eyes. ‘’Most of the information regarding the experiments is confiscated and hidden away so I don’t know exactly the nature of it’’ he said a shiver running through their spines.

‘’Tyler, why are you so sure it has something to do with her?’’ Alex asked a bit unsure.

‘’Remember when we went into hiding when we were attacked, we decided to go to the hall of infamy because not many people go there, but as soon as we ran inside we found Taurus looking at something and he had something in his hands’’ he said and that made them all think for a while.

‘’There was something wrapped… like a package on his hands, I remember that’’ Winnifred said. ‘’so he was probably taking that but, from where did he took it?’’ she asked.

Tyler came forward. ‘’I remember, it took me a while because I was worried about the kids but they were in front of the painting of Elizabeth the Twisted which is on the hall, they must’ve taken something important from there something so important they risked a lot and made the ploy of taking the irregular kids’’

Husky finally finished eating and got up with a puzzled expression. ‘’so they were never the target, the real target was whatever it was around that painting?’’ he asked making Tyler nod.

‘’That’s the idea…’’ Tyler said and took a deep breath and a sigh. ‘’Listen I haven’t heard anything from the officers in a while; no, rather, I haven’t heard anything from them at all, I can’t trust people who won’t look at me in the eye and even tell me if they are making an effort to find my parents and right here I found something that I feel is a clue and I want to investigate without telling anyone, not the teachers, the officers or any parents’’ he said looking at them. ‘’I need you all for this but if you can’t I won’t force you or blame you’’ he finished not breaking the sight he placed on them.

There was a pause, a moment, a silence between them that they didn’t break, Tyler figured they were thinking about it and he didn’t blame them.

After all it was a big request, it involved lying, sneaking and getting in danger but Tyler knew that he couldn’t do this alone, and he learned that he had to trust them, he had to absolutely trust his friends if he wanted to survive doing this, even if they would lie to him or hide things, he learned that it was all because they cared for him so he had to trust them with this.

And Husky was the first one to speak. ‘’I will do it, whatever you need I’m here’’ he said firmly.  
‘’I don’t know what do you want from me, maybe I will not be good at it but let me help as well’’ Lucia came forward.

‘’Ah, I wanted to be the first one to agree, that’s not fair!’’ complained Alex grinning.  
‘’It sounds dangerous and mad! Of course I’m in!’’ Winnifred said.

And the low humming sound came from Winn who waited for a couple seconds before directing his cold gaze towards Tyler. ‘’Are you sure about this? Not trusting the officers and going after them alone?’’ he asked.  
Tyler nodded.

‘’Are you aware that you will be in danger and so do we?’’ he asked and Tyler nodded.

‘’Are you aware that we might die, for you?’’ he asked finally and with a hard swallow Tyler nodded.

Winn thought for a bit more and nodded again. ‘’I’m in, whatever you need this brain is yours’’ he finally smiled a bit it seemed like Tyler’s resolve was what convinced him and he quickly went to wrap Winn around his arms. ‘’I will not let you down’’ he promised to Winn who just froze in place but soon Tyler let him go and with teary eyes he nodded ‘’Alright… so we need to investigate’’

.

It was around lunch the next day when Pamela finally noticed Tyler’s group together eating and chatting away and she realized that Christopher had probably done it, he got Tyler to trust his friends again and was moving forward with the plan. She smiled as Christopher sat in front of her. ‘’Things seem to be going well’’ she said and Christopher shrugged.

He seemed weirdly excited and quickly moved places to sit next to Pamela. ‘’Never mind that, I found out something even more amazing than that!’’ he whispered jumping a bit, Pamela was a bit concerned but listened as Christopher told him an edited version of what Tyler told him yesterday, he was particularly excited about the part of Tyler having a ward and he kept talking about it and Pamela wondered what was so important about Tyler having a ward, I mean sure, it was impressive because that already put Tyler on another social position whatsoever and it seems that Tyler didn’t knew about it but then it clicked when Christopher said something…  
‘’I mean, he is impressive right? If he has a ward, it must mean he is not an irregular’’ he said with a marveled tone.

And then it hit her.

He was making excuses.

He already knew deep inside that he liked Tyler but the fact that Tyler was an irregular kept him from acting on those feelings or even admit to them and when he found out that he had an irregular in his mind the idea of Tyler not being an irregular probably popped up on his head because nobody has ever heard of an irregular with a ward.

So Christopher was probably using it as an excuse, an excuse to say, ‘Oh, since he is not an irregular then that means I can like him now’ or something along the lines. He wouldn’t admit to liking Tyler unless he was not an irregular so this was just another one of his denials. And Pamela was again so sick of it, she got up from the table and walked away angry.

Christopher was left there in mid-sentence looking at her weirdly and walked after her. He quickly reached to her outside the dining hall on an empty hallway. ‘’Hey! What’s wrong with you?’’ he said on a tone that was more demanding of an explanation instead of asking a question.

‘’Come on, Christopher! I’m already sick of it, this plan, your whole denial… Tyler is an irregular stop making excuses’’ she said angry and upset, why was so hard for Christopher to admit to his feelings? She knew he would be far happier if he could be honest with himself.

‘’I-I don’t know what are you talking about’’ he said.

But he knew even whit the cloud of denial on his head he knew. He knew that Tyler was an irregular and he knew that the feeling inside his stomach when he would see him was more than just nausea.

Pamela flipped him off and walked away and Christopher debated a bit between making her apologize with his authority as prince or let her go but then he remembered that he was not here to be a prince he was here to be the very best and he hated himself a tiny second for thinking of using his authority to make her do something.  
Christopher walked away.

.

After school at the beach both boys got in time for their second secret meeting which was previously agreed between notes on classes. Christopher was particularly worried (or not that much if you were to ask him) about Tyler after something happened on their Music and Magic class that day.

They were having their class and they were asked to perform some small notes and warm up a little bit… but then it turned out that Tyler was unable to sing.

Christopher watched him try and try again but whenever he opened his mouth nothing would come out of it, and a feeling of dread invaded him although he didn’t knew why.

Mr. Heraldo Harmonia, the teacher took him to the infirmary with his friends following close behind and Christopher was unable to see him much after that.

And now he was sitting on the same big root that reached the salty sea water looking down at his shoes and looking miserable. 

Cristopher sat in front of him, he felt like he needed to be cautious if not caring here… or at least pretend he was… yeah, pretend.

‘’What did they say?”’ he asked with a kind voice that surprised even himself.  
Tyler sighed a bit and looking angry at the water with some tears near his eyes he said. ‘’They took me to the infirmary and they got Mrs. Trigueño to look at me and they think is something called ‘The heartbreaking disease’’ he said.

Christopher then filled with more dread than before, he heard and read about the disease, it happened to Magical people after a trauma, it was pretty similar to what other people would call depression but it affected the person physically, the person who went after a trauma that affected the love on their hearts and got the disease would experiment a sudden loss of the things that would make them happy. For Tyler it seemed like it prevented him from singing.

‘’They gave me some potions to take and I was able to sing some tones and follow a melody but… I can’t sing a song’’ he sniffled. ‘’Fuck!’’ he suddenly said grabbing the roots of the tree and squeezing hard enough to change the color of his fingers, he didn’t look at Christopher but Christopher knew that he was trying his best not to burst out crying.

‘’This sucks! My parents were taken, I can’t control my emotions and now I can’t even sing to feel better!’’ He yelled at nobody in particular and kicked some pebbles with his feet.

Christopher had never been the best at comforting people but he had to do something right now as he couldn’t stand to see people cry. Or maybe he just didn’t want Tyler to cry.

‘’It will go away, once they find your parents’’ he said softly getting up and walking forward to sit next to him. Tyler felt his presence at his side but refused to look at him. ‘’And then you will sing… and you will sing with the music club as well’’ Christopher said placing his hands next to Tyler’s and moving his pinky finger a tiny bit close to him.

‘’And then you will smile that damn smile you always have like the world is made of light, and then we will win first place this time and go to the national competition… and after that the world cup’’ he inched his finger close until it finally reached Tyler’s and of course he felt it but he didn’t move, he kept that touch, that soft and barely touching feeling embrace him.

‘’Until then I will have to carry the weight of that team, as always’’ he sighed overly dramatically and then he heard Tyler letting out a burst of laughs. His heart skipped a bit at that but he kept calm.

‘’Alright, alright, you are right… it’s not like me to be like this, I need to get up’’ Tyler said and actually got up, he rubbed his eyes and stared forward to the sea and then he let out a great scream towards the horizon, after he finished he sighed and went to look at Christopher ‘’I will be fine’’ he said.

Christopher grinned back wishing silently for something that was not real, wishing that Ty wouldn’t be an irregular so he could finally let his feelings float.  
.  
After walking back to the castle they each took a detour to reach the dorms on separate ways and when they arrived at different times they didn’t say a word to each other.

Tyler was about to walk towards his room when he saw Christopher walking on the hallway, part of him wanted to walk up to him but he knew they agreed to this truce to be a secret for now so he kept his distance.  
And walking down the stairs he saw Zacharias who passed brushing Christopher on the shoulder accidentally and then an interaction happened. Well it was more of a shout from Christopher towards Zacharias; he pushed Zacharias and yelled at him. ‘’Don’t touch me you filthy thing!’’ and Tyler could feel his feet running towards the scene to quickly place himself between both. ‘’What the fuck do you think you are doing?’’ he asked angrily at Christopher. ‘’Leave him alone!’’ Tyler yelled and Christopher only smirked at him and spit to the ground next to Zacharias.

Tyler didn’t knew if it was because he was acting or pretending that they were not on a truce but there was something that he absolutely hated about this whole thing, because if Christopher was going to be nice towards Tyler for whatever reason and then an asshole towards other irregulars then he really hadn’t changed at all.  
Tyler turned and looked at Zacharias who looked at him with the unreadable expression he always wore. ‘’Are you alright?’’ he asked but Zacharias just let a small bow towards him and walked away.

The next day Tyler didn’t meet with Christopher. He spent the afternoon on the library with Winn trying to figure out what he could about Elizabeth the twisted and it turned out that most of the books that contained her information only had a paragraph or two about her. 

‘’The only thing we can be certain of is her name before she became to be known as Elizabeth the twisted’’ Mentioned Tyler as he read another history book that only had a line of her and the same picture they had hanging on the wall.

‘’Yeah, most of her information seems to be redacted, is a pain’’ Winn said and sighed throwing another heavy book to the pile they had on the table.

The library on Diaz had stacks of books on top of more books, the rows were disorganized and many books were cursed and dangerous that’s why you would need to request the spider who worked on the desk to bring you the book that you needed. The spider was Mrs. Monte Hallow the Magical Herbs teacher familiar.

‘’Even if we request another one I bet the spider will just bring us another edited book, it’s like they are hiding information on purpose’’ Tyler sighed.

‘’That must be it, since she came to this school and ended up being evil then it is possible the school is hiding the information out of shame’’ Winn mentioned and got up stretching a bit. ‘’Well, there is no way out of it’’ he started and then.

‘’ ‘’ We need to search her name before she became the twisted ‘’ said Winn and also another voice, both boys startled at this looked around and noticed a boy on a table next to them reading a book smiling to himself, he had white hair on a similar cut as Zacharias but unlike Zacharias this boy didn’t had his eyes covered by hair. The thing covering his eyes however were two huge steampunk googles that covered half his face, he pulled them up leaving them on his hair a bit and smiled at them. ‘’Sorry, it was kind of predictable, your way of thinking’’ 

Tyler thought he saw Winn’s eye twitch for a second but his face didn’t falter. ‘’Sorry, who are you?’’ he asked kind of rudely or maybe it was just Winn not being able to interact with people.

‘’My apologies’’ the boy said on a similar serious way, his face was serious similar to Winn and Zacharias but seems like his expressions were more readable, Tyler wondered for a second if all guys with white-ish hair had this particular issue with being serious. ‘’My name is Virgilio Mare, you can call me Virgil’’ he said to Winn offering a hand, Winn gave him a firm shake and remained silent, Virgil then directed his eyes towards Tyler. ‘’And you can call me just V’’ he grinned at Tyler and bowed respectfully.

‘’S-sorry?’’ Tyler asked suddenly being embarrassed at the respect the boy seemed to show. ‘’You are the author of the guide for irregulars, right? You don’t know how much it helped me be sure that this was the school for me’’ he said and bowed once again. 

‘’P-please stop that!’’ Tyler said red on the face. ‘’Why? Aren’t you an author? I deeply respect and love authors’’ V said looking at Tyler with stars on his eyes. ‘’L-love?!’’ Tyler exclaimed.

Winn suddenly placed himself between them. ‘’Are you done? You are making him embarrassed’’ he asked as cold as he could, the same serious face then returned to V. ‘’I apologize’’ he said respectfully this time to both of them. 

Winn however was not done. ‘’Whatever, what did you mean when you said my way of thought was predictable?’’ he asked seemingly offended at the statement V made previously. 

The boy looked at his face and then looked around at the books. ‘’This place surely is marvelous, right? Tons of books to read and no particular order, it sets my blood on fire when I see it but it also gives me a feeling of adventure as I don’t know what is that I can find here. I like things like this, things that I can fight to learn and understand, I was listening to you both talk about the subject since half an hour ago and ever since you started to complain that the books had not enough information I wondered why you didn’t followed the most logical option of searching her name before she became Elizabeth the twisted, but then I wondered’’ he looked at the place one more time, bookshelves that stretched to the ceiling that was almost three stories high and papers scattered on the ground with formulas and complicated spells and ingredients that only the spider could get in order when requested. ‘’I wondered why won’t you just look for the information? Sure it’s a bit messy here but like you said, the spider will only give you edited information so why don’t you go and look for it instead of going for the logical option of searching her name?’’ he asked Winn.

Winn clicked his tongue a bit. ‘’Logic is the way to follow, if I were to find no information on 'her' searching for her name before she became the twisted then I would find another way but I need to exhaust options first’’ Winn said crossing his arms, it was the first time Tyler seen him so fired up, it seemed that he hated people defying his logic.

‘’Well sure but, this is magic school, logic flies out of the window here, or is that something you cannot see since you lived with magic your whole life?’’ V asked and then it clicked on Tyler’s head.

He’d seen this boy before, when Grace sat on his table and showed him who the first year irregulars were. This boy with the white hair was there. ‘’You are an irregular’’ Tyler said looking at him. ‘’Yes, that must be obvious since you read the guide’’ Tyler said smiling a bit. 

The boy’s smile returned, ‘’Yes! That is an excellent conclusion that you should’ve reached before when I said that I read the guide’’ He pointed smiling and kind of insulting Tyler’s skills at deduction. Tyler however just laughed nervously. ‘’Sorry I was just trying to remember when I’ve seen you before, you are a first year along with Gracie’’ Tyler responded. V then seemed a little bit shocked. ‘’Wait, you already have a nickname for Grace? That’s unfair, call me V then!’’ he complained like a child, Tyler couldn’t help but feel so out of place on this whole scenario.

And then the doors of the library opened wildly, a boy wearing his school uniform all messy and by that I mean, the school shirt opened up halfway down showing a red shirt underneath it and the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders, no cape and no black hat but a brown military looking cap turned backwards, he was leaning on the door frame and scanned the place with his big brown eyes and then they fell on V.

V sighed a bit, his serious face returning as the boy walked towards him and sneered. ‘’I was looking for you’’ he said. ‘’Well you found me’’ V said back with a tone of something hateful on his voice. ‘’let’s go’’ the boy turned around without even looking at Tyler and Winn, V however bowed to them both. ‘’I apologize, I must take my leave now, please let us meet again and discuss investigation methods’’ he said that last part particularly to Win and walked going after the boy.

Tyler wondered briefly about that whole interaction but Winn’s voice turned him back from those thoughts.  
‘’What, in the world of pixies, was that?’’ Winn asked to the air but it was Tyler who responded. ‘’I don’t know, but he is not wrong, you know?’’ he said making Winn look at him sort of offended. ‘’I mean if we look at it with logic we might never find the answers, sure let’s look for her name before she became the twisted but if it doesn’t work we will need to look among these thousand books’’ Tyler said and then placed his hand on Winn’s shoulder. ‘’If that happens we will need a system so we don’t turn crazy, and that’s when you come in, Mr. Inventor’’ Tyler grinned. Winn looked down to his feet and nodded. ‘’Sure…’’ he said unable to say more and they both went to the spider at the front desk to look for more information.

In the end they were able to find some few things about the woman, she used to be Eli Thorn, a name that Tyler remembered the tree mentioned before but aside from her class and her being a sorceress there was not much information about her.

Tyler tried to talk to the tree with his wand but it seemed to be silent at the moment, probably it was still using its power to talk to the insects about information of his parents and without much information to go on the time went by and then it came the weekend.

On Saturday they had their Spirit class where they learned how to help their familiars go through several walls at once, Nox seemed to be an expert on this as the cat on his spirit form went through several walls without problem like they were just holograms of walls on his way but there was a problem when the cat tried to go through the walls on its physical form. It went through two walls and then slammed himself on the third one, Tyler quickly went to his side but the familiar seemed to be fine.

Alex aced this assignment in a second as did Winnifred and Lucia. Winn however had trouble trying to wake up Archimedes as the poor owl only wanted to sleep during the morning.

Christopher kept glancing at Tyler from time to time abut Tyler ignored him; they didn’t met since Christopher pushed Zacharias and he did his best to ignore his notes and his glances on class.

At the end of the day the whole squad took time to finish their homework on the dining room when Alex slammed his head on the table and groaned. ‘’I hate this! What the hell is a rubber duck and why does the mortals need one?’’ he complained Tyler and Lucia laughed. ‘’We don’t’’ Said Lucia grinning. ‘’Then why did you guys made it?!’’ he asked muffled by his face being on the table.

‘’Come on, stop complaining, just put whatever on the answer and help me learn a good freezing spell for the tryouts!’’ Winnifred said writing the final answers on an exercise sheet and taking a spell book. 

‘’Mr. Lopez will be pleased if we show him we already learned how to freeze things’’ Winnifred mentioned looking through the pages. ‘’I don’t know, freezing seems hard, you need to change the whole temperature of whatever you need to freeze in less than a second and then hope that you can stop the stream of freezing air coming out of your wand before you freeze the whole room’’ Mentioned Lucia finishing with the calculations on the amount of black lava seeds placed on a potion to cure a whole house suffering from house coughs a disease that affected magical homes making the house cough like it had an infection and the walls ooze with green mucous-like substances.

‘’Well what if we practice another spell that can make ice out of nowhere instead of just a freezing air’’ suggested Winnifred looking for more spells, Winn seemed interested at this. ‘’That seems like a good idea, search in the page about cold curses, I remember seeing something there’’ he mentioned and Winnifred did quickly finding a reference. ‘’Here it is! Summoning the curse of an ice dragon can help you get something frozen in mere seconds’’ she said grabbing her wand. ‘’Let’s try it!’’ she said pointing her wand to the air. 

‘’Wait! We need to read the implications and the dangers of it first!’’ Said Winn but Winnifred was already finishing the incantation, ‘’White of snow, blue of ice, take the breath of the dragon and let it rise!’’ 

There was a crash coming from her wand, a loud whistling of wind and then a cold air that came summoning ice out of nowhere and then as everything turned blue, ‘’I might’ve made a mistake’’ she half smiled nervously and a second later she was frozen on a block of ice that looked so out of place that it seemed cartoon-ish in a way.

Suddenly came the blasting doors from side to side of the dining room and inside came Mr. Lopez and Mrs. Black looking around.

‘’What in the seven hells is going on?!’’ Exclaimed Mrs. Black,

Winn unfazed by the whole ordeal rolled his eyes and answered. ‘’Something stupid’’ and then he became another block of ice.

The power kept coming out of the wand even after Winnifred became ice and in a second both teachers summoned shields around them and ran towards the kids. 

‘’Take them out! I will take the smaller ones!’’ yelled Mrs. Black and ran towards another table that had a couple of first years still with the shield up. Mr. Lopez quickly came towards them and made a signal for them to keep quiet and with the almost transparent red shield that floated around him he took Alex, Ty and Lucia and led them out of the dining room.

After they were out and a couple of meters away from the door the teacher spoke, ‘’Well, it seems like a classic dragon spell out of control’’ he half smiled letting the shield down. ‘’You can speak now’’ he said.

‘’Are they going to be alright?!’’ asked Tyler quickly, the teacher nodded. ‘’Absolutely, a dragon spell like that petrifies the victims but with a little heat potion they will be alright’’

‘’Are we in trouble?’’ Asked Lucia with a different kind of worry after being assured that her friends were alright. Mr. Lopez laughed a bit. ‘’Well if it was only me I wouldn’t give you detention after all these kind of mishaps are common with these spells but Mrs. Black is going to turn into ice in a few seconds and she will be far angrier that I am’’ he sighed.

‘’Why would she become ice if she summoned a shield?’’ Alex asked. ‘’Well the ice dragon usually attacks at sound, in real life he is blind, so when he is summoned or some of his power is summoned it will attack at the nearest sound source, Winnifred probably spoke after the summon and then Winn did and Mrs. Black also spoke but since her power is bigger than yours she will take some time before the effects of the ice will turn her into a block’’ he explained.

‘’This is why we read the instructions first’’ Tyler muttered and the angry voice of Mrs. Black came from behind them. 

‘’That is absolutely right, Tyler Suarez, oh a big punishment awaits you and your friends after I-‘’ she said but then she became a block of ice. The first years behind her looked at her in horror and Mr. Lopez quickly assured them that she was alright.

‘’Now then, let’s go to the greenhouse, pick some herbs and make a potion for her and your friends’’ he said and the looked at the first years. ‘’Want to join? It will be a good learning experience’’ he asked and they nodded.  
‘’Well, she might be less angry if we help her get out of that ice’’ Lucia though out loud, ‘’Not freaking likely’’ muttered Alex behind her.  
.

They reached the greenhouse where Mrs. Monte Hallow, the ‘Herbs Class’ teacher was picking some flowers for some class and Mr. Lopez quickly explained the situation making her laugh a bit. ‘’Oh I remember the first time I summoned a dragon power, the tree dragon from mortal south-Korea was not happy to be disturbed and turned my classmates into the most spectacular vegetables!’’ she laughed. To Tyler all these happenings seemed kind of serious but at seeing the reaction of his teachers it seemed that it was kind of usual in the magical-world.

Then Mrs. Hallow summoned her wand, a kind looking brown wand with some lilies carved in it and then she waved it a list summoning a list. ‘’Alight, a warming potion, take some leaves from a fire tulip, then some spines from a red rose from hell, a single angry bean and finally seven ghost peppers’’ she said and instructed the kids to go and retrieve them.

Tyler went towards the same fire tulip he worked with on a class before and started to search around for some gloves, he came down under the table and found himself with a couple of gloves being shown to his face. He looked at the first year shyly giving him the gloves. ‘’You need these?’’ he asked, Ty nodded and took them nicely. ‘’Thank you, what’s your name?’’ he asked with a smile.

‘’Gabriel Bennett’’ he said getting up with Tyler and then took a sight and it seemed like all the shyness flied away as he showed him a hand to shake. ‘’Gabriel Bennett, irregular!’’ he repeated his name and added the irregular part with a proud and strong voice that kind of reminded him of Alex a little bit.

‘’Tyler Suarez, nice to meet you’’ Ty took the hand and gave him a firm shake. The last name give him a feeling and he went for it asking, ‘’Are you related to Rory, perhaps?’’ he asked on a friendly manner, the boy rested his head on his hands on a very Alex way and nodded with a grin. ‘’He is my cousin! Well a distant cousin but a cousin anyways! We never spoke too much before as my grandparents don’t like magic very much but as soon as I started showing signs of magic he came to my house not caring about anything and told me about the meta-world’’ he said.

‘’I see! That’s amazing!’’ Tyler said grabbing some clippers and going toward the plant. ‘’So you are an irregular like me’’ Tyler said for confirmation and the boy nodded looking at the process of taking the leaves closely. 

‘’Yep! My parents have no magic and neither my grandparents being on my mom’s side or dad’s side have magic’’ he said.

‘’I see, then Rory is your distant relative but your direct bloodline lacks magic’’ Tyler said and then pointed to a small bag, ‘’could you reach that for me, please’’ he asked and Gabriel did as told as he spoke. ‘’Yes! And I was nervous when he explained about irregulars and when I knew about the riots but then I read your guide and it helped a lot!’’ he grinned. 

Tyler almost clipped a finger and he was so glad he had gloves that prevented this; he was still not used to people complimenting his guide. ‘’T-thank you’’ he said and the boy rested his cheeks on his hands and grinned. ‘’You’re welcome!’’ he said.

Tyler took a good look at him, he had black hair with some small hint of green, golden eyes and white skin, he looked like a copy of Alex with that grin and Tyler felt small warmth in his heart when he looked at him. He seemed like a kind person and Tyler was glad for this.

When they seemed to be done Tyler decided to check on his friends and with Gabriel walking near behind him he walked among rows of plants, turned around a corner and then his breath left his lungs.

The sight was beautiful, the other first year student that Tyler recognized just now as Vice Porter was smiling at a big rose bush while the sun entered the windows making her shine under the light, a soft air blow around moving the gentle golden curls under her hat and her big blue eyes opened to look around until they fell on Tyler. She smiled at him making Tyler kind of weak on the knees.

This girl was too gorgeous alright!

‘’Mr. Tyler Suarez’’ she said on a gentle voice, ‘’It is nice to see you again! The circumstances are a bit odd though’’ she laughed a bit. Tyler could only nod and after a second remembering that he was actually not into girls he was able to speak normally. ‘’Mister?’’ he asked raising an eyebrow, she laughed. ‘’Too formal?’’ she bowed a bit like a princess would do in the form of an apology. ‘’Sorry for that, just Tyler would be alright?’’ she asked him and Tyler nodded.

‘’Sorry about the mess on the hall, both of you’’ he finally said to both the first years. ‘’It’s fine, this is exactly what I expected from a magical school!’’ Gabriel smiled showing his teeth. ‘’Indeed! The whole ordeal seems not to be such a big deal as well, so let’s take this as a learning opportunity’’ Vice said and knelt to take something from a pot on a lower space and then she showed her findings on a bag. ‘’I finished gathering the peppers! They do have a strong aroma so mind your noses’’ she smiled.

The smell of peppers filled the air when she opened her bag and Tyler coughed a bit, he liked some small spices but not these strong. Gabriel also started to cough from the smell as well but he seemed more cheerful. ‘’Jeez! That’s strong’’ he said ‘’doesn’t it bother you?’’ he added.

‘’Not at all! I love spicy food! The spicier the better’’ she declared and together they moved to find Lucia and Alex. 

Tyler stopped for a second when he looked at them trying to reach with gloved hands on a pot of soil for something, they were laughing and the pot would sometimes burp some dirt and they were starting to get covered in it. 

Tyler laughed a bit looking at them both together, a feeling of calmness filled him, he was so glad they managed to make peace even when things were a little bit awkward he knew he needed them more than never, and they seemed to be acting normal around him and around each other as well. Tyler quickly took his gloved hands and came marching to the table.

‘’My turn!’’ he said and both friends on cue held the big pot on place, Tyler jumped on the table and kneeled in front of the pot and sank both hands on the pot. ‘’Come here you little thing!’’ he said reaching for the bean inside the pot and the dirt burped hitting him with soil on the face, Tyler laughed and reached further while spitting some ground, his friends started to get covered as the pot started to burp more and more soil and quickly came the two first year irregulars to hold the pot as well.

‘’Found you!’’ yelled Tyler when he managed to get a grasp of the last ingredient and with all his might he pulled out until he took out a huge red bean on the size of an apple, he wobbled for a bit and almost fell to the ground but he was held by four arms. He looked and it were both Alex and Lucia holding him from falling.

And he laughed and laughed with them for a bit until it was time to take the ingredients to the potions classroom with Mr. Lopez. Getting there they talked with Mrs. Flora and she helped them create the potion. The first years looking intently at her while she worked her expert hands cutting the bean with a large knife and squeezing the leaves to just take a drop of liquid out of a mortar and then adding with extreme careful the peppers that made big red cloud appear from the cauldron and after fifteen minutes of mixing the potion was ready.

‘’Now, take this to your friends and let us pray Mrs. Black would be merciful with you’’ she laughed a bit and then added, ‘’Let me know if she takes away any points, I will be sure to give you some for bringing such good ingredients’’ she smiled.

With heavy hearts and heavier feet they reached the dining room once more where the two cubes of ice that were his friends were staying in place, the wand already stopped producing the spell and both Tyler and Lucia poured a flask of the potion on their friends.

The ice broke in half and both of them were there looking normal and not even cold. Winn looking around and nodded happily at the potions went to grab a book he had near and smacked it on Winnifred’s head. ‘’Ouch! What gives?!’’ she asked, Winn just rolled his yes. ‘’And that’s why we read the instructions!’’ he said scolding her.  
With feet ready to run away they poured the next potion on the block that was Mrs. Black and the block split in half, and then without wasting a second the whole squad tried to run away.

But Mrs. Black was far ahead of them, literally. In a second she puffed herself in front of them and stared angrily at them. ‘’Detention, all of you!’’ she yelled, Mr. Lopez then came running towards the scene. ‘’Come on, Mrs. Black they made a mistake preparing for one of my classes, and they did such a great job gathering the ingredients for the potion to help you out, can’t we just let it slide?’’ he tried.

‘’Let Suarez’ antics slide?! What are you on about?’’ she exclaimed and this turned a sour face on Mr. Lopez. ‘’Bolt!’’ he said using Mrs. Black name sternly, she clenched her jaw and looked at them with some cold disdain. ‘’No points will be taken, but you will go and clean any messes you did being on the dining room, potions classroom and the greenhouse. Now don’t go setting a bad example on the new students, Suarez’’ she said and puffed herself out of the place.

‘’Is it me or does she not like you?’’ asked Gabriel out loud making them all, Mr. Lopez included, laugh a tiny bit.   
‘’Well, fair is fair, you will have to clean the mess’’ Mr. Lopez said and then lightly tapped Winnifred’s forehead with his index finger. ‘’Next time read the warnings, Mrs. Luciferus’’ he said and excused himself out of the scene. 

‘’No way out of it, time to clean’’ sighed Lucia. ‘’Sorry for the mess’’ Winnifred apologize under her breath.   
‘’It’s fine, it’s fine, let’s just hurry so I can nap!’’ complained Alex. 

‘’Do you need any help?’’ asked Vice and Tyler quickly turn her down. ‘’It’s alright, this is our mess after all, go get clean up both of you’’ he smiled, Vice nodded and obediently excused herself. 

The squad except Tyler left for the dining room and Tyler was left on the hallway with Gabriel who was looking at the image of Vice leaving, ‘’It’s the first time I’ve ever spoke to her for so long’’ he said. 

‘’You are not friends?’’ Tyler asked, Gabriel denied with the head. ‘’Far from it, we don’t even talk, the other irregulars, we can’t seem to get along but today I spoke and have fun with a fellow irregular’’ he then looked at Vice, ‘’you must have some kind of power to bring people together, thank you’’ he said.

‘’I did nothing! You guys seem to really get along, you should try being friends’’ Tyler quickly said. ‘’Yes, we should all try’’ Gabriel thought out loud. ‘’Grace said that’’ Gabriel added and smiled so softly and fondly at this that Tyler had a feeling that there was something dear being held in those words.

‘’Anyways, is my time to leave! Have fun cleaning!’’ he laughed and skipped away.

Without much thought Ty walked to the dining room catching up with his friends who were already fighting with brooms and mops using them like they were fencing swords, Tyler choked a laugh before trying to scold them. ‘’Guys! We are supposed to be cleaning!’’

‘’We are but I made a bet’’ Winn said covering himself from an attack from Lucia and then going to jab her lightly on the abdomen.

‘’Which is?’’ Tyler asked clapping at the dramatic display Lucia did when she pretended to fall dead on the still icy ground, Winn proceeded to slash twice with his broom and smacking away the simultaneous attacks from both Winnifred and Alex and lightly tapping them on the head with the broom. ‘’That I could beat them in less than a minute’’ he smirked a bit as they also pretended to fall dead.

‘’Now revive and pay’’ he said expressionless, the rest got up and gave them three boxes of candy each and Winn placed them carefully inside his pocket pack. Soon they started to clean dividing themselves around the dining room.

Tyler was occupying himself so much trying to melt a section of the floor and drying it afterwards than he didn’t noticed when Alex got next to him.

‘’So…’’ he started, his voice uncharacteristically low, even like that he managed to get a startled jump from Ty. ‘’I need to talk to you about something’’ he said cleaning a melted section that was already clean. 

He seemed to struggle with his words for a while until a small embarrassed blush painted his freckled cheeks, he seemed flustered but nonetheless the expression of resolution on his face kept on. ‘’I haven’t been a good friend’’ he confessed without looking at him. Tyler didn’t say anything he let Alex go on.

‘’I’ve been jealous…’’ he started still cleaning the same spot. ‘’Of Husky, I’ve been feeling that for a while’’ he said, Ty looked at him with the obvious question on his mind but he didn’t say anything as Alex was not finished yet. ‘’When I meet you and Lu, I thought, ‘oh cool! I finally found some friends that don’t care about my money’ and then when I actually met you, I started to think ‘oh, this dude is actually pretty cool’ and then I keep meeting you and I realized you were the kindest person I could ever meet’’ he said, Tyler fought the ringing in his ears, the heat on his face and the beating of his heart.

‘’Then I found out about Husky and I immediately became jealous, I mean I believed that if I thought of you as my best friend then you must obviously feel the same but then I found out that Husky was your actual number one best friend and I got angry… like really angry and jealous’’ he said with his gaze fixed on the same place, something on Tyler moved and he didn’t knew what it was, the mixed feelings of having Alex pouring his heart out and calling him a best friend with the hurt of ‘again’ being called just a best friend sent some mixture of feelings inside Ty.

‘’I got to meet him and I didn’t like him, I think that it was because I already had this jealousy inside. And I tried to push it away, tried to keep him away from my thoughts and I said ‘concentrate on just being Tyler’s friend’ and I did and it worked but then you got hurt and Husky blasted those doors away and I knew that he wasn’t normal and I heard him say he was a ward… he then came to my house over vacations and begged me to not say anything’’ he took a deep breath. ‘’And I realized that this was the excuse I wanted to hate him. I hated him for not telling you the truth for being dishonest for not trusting you and I figured that if he did those things he didn’t deserved to be near you… and I decided to keep the secret not for his sake but because I knew that the moment he would tell you then you would be so angry you would fight him’’ he shut his eyes. ‘’And I would get first place’’ he said, shame pouring out of his lips.

Tyler had a certain feeling of hurt inside of him, he knew that Alex had lied but now he knew why he had done it and it made sense, Ty tried to remember the times he would get shut down every time Ty would talk about Husky or even mention his name, and now it all made sense. Alex has been jealous and he was dishonest about keeping the secret for Husky’s sake and request, he hadn’t done it out of honor of his request but because he knew it would blow on Husky’s face and he would get advantage of it.

Even when all of those reasons seemed so dishonest and Ty definitely felt disappointed in him he couldn’t help but feel like he understood completely where he was coming from.

Jealousy is a huge kind of feeling, an awful kind of feeling but a huge one as well; it can make people act in ways they don’t normally act and lead them through dark paths and that feeling was the one that made Alex do what he did.

‘’Then the lies blew up on his face but it didn’t only exploded for him but for all of us, and I was able to stop him in time, I should’ve be able to talk to him for your sake and convince him that all together we could talk to you and help you understand why he hid that he was a ward… damn I even get why he hid that secret as well if he didn’t knew he was a ward before his parents told him’’ he took a deep sigh when he realized he was rambling. ‘’what I mean is that… I’m sorry, I should’ve been a better friend’’

Ever since Ty found out about his friends lying he felt like there was this broken image on a mirror, something that cracked that could be repaired but not completely fixed and the voice inside his head telling him that he was justified to feel that and that he must hate them for that kept growing each and every day.

But in this moment it was like someone used magic to restore that mirror, it was like the voice in his head didn’t matter and he remembered that he needed them, all of them. He honestly needed his friends to pull out from whatever was happening around him right now.

Tyler didn’t hugged him this time, he extended his hand and offered to Alex and after a quick second Alex took it and they firmly squeezed those hands together. 

‘’I forgive you fully, but you need to talk to Husky’’ Ty said. ‘’I promise’ Alex responded,  
They let go and it occurred to Ty that he needed to set them aside, all of them one by one. Tyler walked towards Lucia as she cleaned a table and sat on a chair near. ‘’Hey…’’ he said. Lucia smiled that million watts smile of hers Tyler smiled back and his eyes quickly went to the small bandages on her fingers.

‘’Are you alright?’’ He asked, Lucia looked at her fingers and let out a nervous laugh, ‘’Yes, I just keep hurting myself whenever I cast a spell’’ she said making Tyler made a quizzical look at her. ‘’It seems that my wand need a lot more tuning than an usual wand, whenever I use it spines and vines will grow out of it at an alarming rate and I end up getting spiked’’ she tried to smile a bit but that didn’t made Tyler be reassured she was alright. 

‘’T-that seems kind of serious, how much do you need to tune it so it doesn’t happen?’’ He asked quickly grabbing her fingers and inspecting a tiny bit the damage, ‘’at least once or twice a week’’ she confessed letting Tyler inspect her fingers. 

‘’Lu, that seems a bit too much if you are getting hurt...’’ he started but Lucia quickly cut him off. ‘’I don’t want another wand, I love mine and I love where it comes from… ‘’ she directed a small gaze towards Alex who was cleaning properly now and then looked back at Tyler. ‘’It came from Alex’s mom’s rose bush, and whenever I use it I can feel like some presence that she is around or her magic is around and I love it, it makes me feel like Alex has his mom around’’ she smiled fondly.

Tyler got that, he understood that immediately, now he knew what it was like to not having both his parents around and he knew that he wouldn’t want anyone to go through what he was going, he understood that since Alex lost his mom he already went through something similar and he was sure that if given the chance he would do anything to make Alex feel like she was still around.

‘’Have you told him about this? About how you can feel her around?’’ he asked and Lucia denied with her head. ‘’Not yet, I want to learn more about this wand and this feeling, I want to know if there is something to this magic’’ she said.

Tyler looked at her fingers and caressed her hand a bit. ‘’I understand… please don’t hurt yourself’’ he pleaded. Lucia nodded and sighed while still smiling. ‘’We are good, right?’’ she asked, her voice losing all hesitation or any kind of awkwardness she might have before and Tyler nodded. ‘’We are good, we are the only two irregulars in our class after all, we need to stick together’’ he smiled.

Lucia pulled him on an embrace, warm and motherly like, he sighed burying his face on her golden hair and pulled apart feeling like another weight lifter from his shoulder, similar to a weight that was lifter after he spoke with Alex.

He then looked at Winnifred busying herself trying to dry some curtains with a warming spell and looked at Lucia. ‘’I need to talk to her now’’ he said, Lucia nodded and continued her work.

Ty walked towards Winnifred and took the curtains on his hands and walked backwards a bit to stretch them, Winnifred grinned and used the warming spell to dry them more thoughtfully. ‘’How are you doing?’’ he asked her.

Winnifred was by far the most cheerful of them, the most energetic, and quickly to fire up, but right now she seemed like a fire about to be turned off. Still giving light but faintly and flickering. ‘’I don’t know, how are you?’’ she asked with the same hesitation Lucia and Alex shown before.

‘’I think I’m better now… what’s on your mind?’’ he asked noticing that whatever she had on her mind right now was different than their friend fight. 

‘’It’s good that you are better now… I think I’m fine I’m just having some issues’’ she said still drying the curtain little by little. ‘’With what?’’ Ty asked concerned. 

Winnifred looked around at the still pretty messy hall and took a moment before answering. ‘’Just look at what I did today, it seems to me like I’m always messing up because I rush into things too much…’’ she said on a low voice. ‘’I mean… what if I keep rushing into things from now on? What will happen if I try for the team and end up boiling my teammates due to not being able to think about things, or what if I mess up practicing spells and I’m not even able to get on the team in the first place… worse what if when the time comes I rush into things and I get us killed’’ she finished.

Tyler was kind of worried to hear that, he never once thought that Winnifred would be the kind of girl who would worry about things like this, sure she was quick to act, to fight and to rise to a challenge without thinking but he never thought that the consequences for acts like these were worrying her so much.

Some guilt hit him then, she was worried about so many things and she was worried about not being able to help as well when they go and rescue his parents. ‘’Winnifred…’’

‘’And no, don’t get it wrong, I want to help, I want to find your parents with you and I will take a no for an answer if you suddenly decide that I better sit this one out’’ she warned looking at him. ‘’But there is something that keeps telling me that I will mess up… because I rush too much’’

Tyler couldn’t help but smile kindly at her at that. ‘’You know, one of the things I like the most about you is how you are able to rush with your head on without hesitation, you are one of the bravest and stronger people I know, you know how to flight on a broom like an eagle and how to kick any kind of sport in the ass, you are a bad ass girl and you know it’’ he said, Winnifred stopped moving and a small smile came to her lips.

Tyler kept going. ‘’You are amazing at the things you do, sure you might not be as smart as Winn or good at spells like Alex but then again who is as good?’’ he grinned making her laugh. ‘’But there is something inside you, something brave and strong… like a knight, and sure it’s normal to feel like you are going to mess up, believe me I feel like that all the time but I believe that is that same fear of messing up the thing that will keep you from actually messing up’’ he said and she looked confused.

‘’I got lost’’ she said laughing a bit.

‘’Like, imagine if you are afraid of jumping to a pool of water, you are afraid you are going to land wrong or hit the water or not even fall into the water in the first place but is that same fear the one that tells you that then you need to jump and do it perfectly… I feel like the fear that you have is what will keep you from messing anything’’ he said.

Winnifred laughed and a teasing smile appeared on her. ‘’So that means that you think that I’m perfect?’’ she teased leaning to him, Tyler pushed her with his index finger on her forehead. ‘’I never even suggested that’’ he laughed with her.

Winnifred finally realized the curtains were dry by now and picked them up by herself. ‘’Thank you Ty, and… just for the record, you do know we are sorry, right?’’ she asked, Tyler nodded. ‘’I know. I’m sorry I got so mad as well, we will be alright’’ he said.

Winnifred directed a look at Winn who was reading a book while moving his wand side to side to command a broom to do the cleaning. ‘’You are going to have some trouble with that one, thought. He is kind of thick headed when it comes to forgiveness, to others and himself’’ she said and patted him on the shoulder.

‘’Good luck!’’ she said and pushed him towards Winn.

Winn raised an eyebrow looking at him and then went back to the book.

‘’Winn…’’ Tyler said suddenly feeling kind of nervous.

‘’Yes?’’ he asked, not really looking at him.

‘’Can we talk?’’

‘’aren’t we talking?’’

‘’Would you look at me then?’’

‘’Busy, reading, cleaning’’

After that short interaction Tyler shut his mouth for a bit… there was a question lingering on his mind for a bit, sure, Winn agreed to help him and they seemed alright when he spoke to all on the clearing at the forest but it still seemed like for Winn there were still things to be said as well as the rest.

So the lingering question inside Tyler’s mind came out. ‘’Do you hate me now?’’ he sort of whispered.

The clacking sound of the broom falling because Winn stopped the spell and the book he had closing with a loud ‘thud’ and Winn raised his gaze looking angry. ‘’How the fuck… how the… how can you even suggest that we… That I-‘’ Win said, his voice getting cut by his own throat feeling dry and close. He took a breath, ‘’How can you even think that I could hate you?’’ Winn ask, a mix of anger and sadness on his eyes.

‘’You seem pretty mad…’’ Tyler said.

‘’yes! And I am! I’m mad at you! At myself for agreeing to lie to you in the first place yeah! But at you as well because you wouldn’t even listen to us; to Lucia who has been on this road with you from the start, how could you not let us speak? And yes I understand you are allowed to be angry but still you should know that we love you, that I love you!’’ Winn stood up at this, now that he was a few inches taller than Tyler he was looking down at him and very close. 

‘’I’m sorry’’ Tyler tried.

‘’stop that’’ Winn said doing what he always does and looking straight at him. ‘’Stop apologizing for feeling things’’ he said. ‘’I don’t need you to be sorry, I need you to forgive us, honestly and fully’’ 

Tyler swallowed hard, the voice in his head quiet and not telling him to be angry at Winn for being angry at him helped him finally tear up a bit, he started to cry, but Winn didn’t say anything, he didn’t move, he didn’t even flinched. He let Tyler take out the things he needed to take out and then he listened. ‘’I miss them so much, Winn, and the officers won’t tell me shit… and Husky has never lied to me, not like this, and then I felt like everyone was lying to me and I felt so lonely after I got angry… and I felt so sorry for what I did, for pulling away’’ he said covering his face with his hands, ashamed.

Tyler did felt ashamed of what he did, he didn’t listened, he just let out everything out on them when he felt like they betray him but inside he knew this was not the right thing to do, he knew that he should’ve stay and listen until his anger calmed down, until he was able to understand.

But then again…’’Nobody is perfect’’ Winn said and he finally moved pulling him close. ‘’Nobody is perfect, not you, not me, Husky or the rest, we make mistakes’’ he said.

Another weight lifted up from his shoulders because of Winnifred and now because of Winn.  
‘’I’m sorry’’ Winn said. ‘’I forgive you’’ Tyler said, for real this time.

Winn pulled apart a bit and smiled at Tyler, this time his expression seemed real, his smile softer and his face warmer, suddenly a group of applause came from around and they saw their friends clapping at them.  
‘’Beautiful’’ fake sobbed Lucia.

 

‘’One for the ages’’ said Winnifred with an overly dramatic voice with some bad British accent.  
‘’Will go down on history’’ said Alex while wiping away invisible tears.

Both Tyler and Winn rolled their eyes. ‘’Come on you dummies, it’s time to keep cleaning’’ Tyler said mockingly and resumed the cleaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was more of a filler and i need to add some more fillers before keeping up with the main story, please enjoy! any suggestions and questions let me know guys   
> always thank you for reading!!!!


	6. Chapter 6. Bad Kids.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> this chapter is a tad shorter but still pretty long i believe!  
> thanks a lot for keeping on reading!

Chapter 6. Bad Kids.

Christopher was walking among the hallways looking annoyed, he was looking for someone and no it was not Tyler, gods, he wished it was Tyler he was looking for, the damn kid has been avoiding him for days now and he’d seen him sneak around with his loser friends and he wondered why he stopped talking to him now that things seemed to get better…. Of course he was only worried about his plan to humiliate him, only that and nothing more… of course there were no hidden feelings of hurt there.

But whatever, right now he was looking for his annoying roommate, for some reason the king had asked for an audience with the damn kid and now Christopher had to look for him.

It was kind of surprising if not shocking when he received the call last night through the CIM and he picked up the call wondering if it was one of the maids setting up an important meeting for him and he almost jumped and covered his messy hair when the king came into the image.

The king greeted him warmly while impressed at the invention and spoke to him a couple of mundane things, in the end it seemed like he only wanted to talk and test the CIM and he asked for Christopher to set up an audience to talk to the young man who invented the device.

So now he was searching for the damn bookworm who made the thing, it’s not like he wanted it but nobody could oppose…refuse, the king.

Luckily he knew that even if he couldn’t find him right at the second they had the ‘mortal bullshit sensitivity’ class later and they all took it together along with the first years. So in the end after running all around the castle trying to find him it turned out to be fruitless, the bell rang and it was time for class.

Christopher went to the yard as the rest of the students and they all got together to walk to the woods, Pamela walked closed to him but she still refused to talk to him, whatever her problem was she was going to get over it soon enough, whatever, Christopher couldn’t care less right now for her.

Because… there was something bigger bothering him; something else…

His eyes kept wandering where they shouldn’t; he knew they were going over the mess of black wavy hair several steps ahead of him and the mess of hair was not turning to him, was not looking at him, was not speaking to him, was not even directing a glance of anger or hate.

He was just being indifferent and it bothered him… surprisingly it bothered him a lot. But he tried to ignore the bad feeling and the awful taste of mouth it left, he tried to keep walking but then his eyes fell again on his head and he could feel himself getting angrier and angrier.

They crossed over to the mortal world and then walked to the mortal school, as soon as the teachers gave the approval for them to go ahead and socialize with the mortal students the whole group broke apart and he saw the mess of hair that Tyler had on his head running to the open arms of his ward.

The ward took him, hugged him, and gave him a spin in the air like it was the most precious thing in the world and Christopher felt sick to his stomach.

He saw the rest of the group approach them and he finally realized that Winn was there with the rest, taking an annoyed breath he started to walk towards them, as soon as he approached at least twenty meters of them the ward snapped his eyes open like a wild animal and placed himself in front of Tyler.

Alex, always being the hot headed idiot he was, got in front of the group crossing his arms in defiance. ‘’And what do you want?’’ he asked. ‘’I’m not him to talk to you, farmer’’ Christopher responded with as much venom as he could, he then directed his stare at Winn. ‘’Four eyes, a word’’ he said not asking but rather demanding to speak with him.

Winn looked at him like he asked for him to jump from a bridge but took a step forward before being stopped by Tyler. ‘’Is everything alright?’’ he asked with honesty, concern and care in his eyes… it made Christopher sick.

He snickered to try to hide the feeling and directed a biting remark to Tyler. ‘’What, are you too afraid to let him out of the leash, Suarez?’’ he said expecting… expecting what? He didn’t actually know, maybe some comeback or some sarcastic remark, even some stare but there was… nothing. Tyler didn’t even reacted he kept his stare towards Winn. Christopher…didn’t like that.

Winn did stared at him for a second and then back to Tyler before smiling, not like he was assuring Tyler that it was alright but more to mock Christopher. ‘’It’s alright, I’ll be right back’’ he smiled and walked past Christopher.

But instead of turning around and going with him, Christopher kept his stare at Tyler and the bad taste on his mouth, the tight feeling in his chest and the sick grew bigger when Tyler didn’t even looked at him but looked at Winn walking away. ‘’What, you are not even going to talk to me? Have nothing smart to say? Did you turn mute aside from stupid or what?’’ he said and there was nothing back.

‘’What the hell? What is up with that?’’ Asked Winnifred looking offended and getting on a threatening stand.

‘’Hey, I was just saying, your friend seems to not be able to even hear when people are talking to him, maybe he is deaf, mute and stupid now’’ he said getting angrier and again there was nothing back.

‘’You know what, why don’t you just leave and talk to Winn so he can come back quickly? Or go away and never come back, nobody actually wants you here’’ Lucia said looking at him with a cold stare.

‘’Nobody wants me here… is that right?’’ he said not looking at him but at Tyler who turned to the ward. ‘’We can wait somewhere inside? I just need to talk to you about something’’ he said, the ward nodded still almost growling to Christopher. ‘’Fine…’’ muttered Christopher and charged away.

He had to keep clam, he had to keep it together, and he was not going to keep losing his cool for some irregular like Tyler Suarez. What was his deal anyways? First they start talking and everything seems fine and almost fun... for the sake of his plan of course, but then as soon as he gets his friends back he ignores him?

That must be it; he was just a spare friend for him? Damn, that thought just made him angrier but even so, there was a thought inside his head telling him that Tyler was not like that but it kept fighting with his thoughts, there was something he did wrong? No, he didn’t do anything to Tyler, not lately, not to do this…

He felt like he was going crazy.  
.  
The squad minus Winn walked through the woods lightly talking when Alex finally approached the situation they just witnessed. ‘’I gotta say, I like the treatment you gave Christopher! Downright ignoring him has to be way painful for him’’ he snickered.

‘’I hear you! He is too used to people paying attention to him that not giving him the attention seemed to make him crazy, good job Ty’’ Winnifred laughed.

‘’thanks’’ Tyler said leaving out a small breathy laugh… he couldn’t say it out loud, that the reason he was doing it was to teach him a lesson he didn’t say that he was hating giving Christopher the silent treatment and that he kind of missed the way they talked those couple of times at the beach.

When they finally reached the clearing Tyler tried to forget everything about Christopher and gave Alex a look that said. ‘Now’ and Alex seeing that sighed and walked towards Husky.

Husky stood tall and looked a bit taken back, Alex played with his hat a bit seemingly nervous and definitely uncomfortable.

‘’Just do it already!’’ yelled Lucia annoyed at the scene.

‘’Fine!’’ Yelled Alex back and then looked straight into Husky’s eyes and extended his hand. Husky looked at it for a second and then looked at Alex. ‘’I’ve been a jerk and I’m sorry…’’ He said Husky then looked at the hand again and took a few seconds before graving it and giving it a firm shake.

They walked away from the group and talked for a bit, about the reasons Alex had to not liking Husky and Husky confessed that he didn’t like Alex very much either. ‘’I’m jealous of the time you get to spend with him’’ he said not looking at anything but the grass.

Alex, lazy, thick headed, sleepy, country boy, Alex, quickly noticed the way he meant that and after a while smiled gently and patted Husky in the shoulder. ‘’How long?’’ he asked.

‘’Ever since I met him’’ Husky said, flush on his face so bright that Alex had to laugh a bit, ‘’Does he know? Does anyone else know?’’ he asked and Husky denied with his head. ‘’he doesn’t know, Lucia knows though, she figured it out last year and teases me all the time about it! Keeps sending me pictures of him in class and when she thinks he looks pretty, which is of course all the time!’’ Husky sat on the grass groaning those statements with his hands on his face making Alex laugh even louder. ‘’it’s not that funny! I mean, how he manages to look like that every day?’’ Husky groaned in between his fingers.

‘’Come on, dude, it’s normal to think that the person you like is cute’’ Alex managed between laughs, Husky lowered his hands slowly and stared at him curiously, ‘’What?’’ Alex asked, Husky just looked at him oddly and tilted his head. ‘’Why are you acting so cool about it, aren’t you in love with him too?’’ he asked seriously but with no malice whatsoever in his voice or look.

Alex didn’t change the smile on his face, he didn’t change the look in his eyes, he didn’t look bothered at all, ‘’About Ty, I-‘’ he started but the sniffing sound of Husky cut him off, ‘’H-hey there is nothing to be emotional about’’ Alex said while laughing nervously.

‘’It’s not that’’ Husky rolled his eyes and then he got up and sniffed some more around. ‘’it smells like smoke’’ he said and looked around; the statement was heard by the rest of the group.

‘’smoke?’’ asked Tyler looking around the trees but couldn’t see anything ‘’where do you smell it?’’ he asked, Husky started to walk towards the woods and the rest followed close. ‘’It’s getting stronger’’ Husky said and Tyler agreed with him as he started to smell the same thing but there was something else on the air, something awful that he didn’t like; it was the smell of tobacco.

As soon as he realized what it was he stopped and his eyes finally fell in front of him where he saw three first years sitting on the grass of the forest. The first he recognized quickly, the girl with the blonde hair with the tips dyed in pink on two pigtails who was sitting on the roots of a tree taking pictures of her on a phone. Then there was a black girl chewing gum and playing on a portable videogame looking bored and slightly annoyed and laying on a branch there was a boy with brown hair and a military cap turned backwards smoking a cigarette, Tyler recognized him as the boy who took Virgilo away when they were talking on the library with Winn.

The three turned to them and only the blonde girl and the boy looked both surprised and slightly annoyed.

‘’Busted…’’ Said the blonde girl locking her phone and looking then to the side. ‘’And I was almost sure that old pervert was going to transfer me money’’ she said annoyed.

It was like reality snapped inside of Tyler’s brain when he heard that and he quickly took a step forward towards them, this was not good, this was the opposite of good! This was so bad, he didn’t know anything about these people but he knew first that they were irregulars and that they were going to get in so much trouble if they were to be found.

But the person who spoke or almost yelled wasn’t him but Lucia and her sight was directed towards the blonde girl. ‘’What did you say?!’’ she asked looking more shocked than surprised ‘’Money; why would a man be sending you money for?’’ she asked with an accusatory look.

‘’Chill, I’m not sending him anything illegal he just wants to feel like he is talking to a model! A genius scam actually! You convince a couple idiots you are an app model, pretty-up some pictures and soon your account is flowing with money’’ she laughed like she just said the most innocent thing in the world.

Lucia gritted her teeth, she, as the rest of them didn’t know what was going on but she didn’t liked it one bit. ‘’That is something illegal! You are sending people things and you are a child! What is your name?’’ Lucia asked placing her arms on her hips looking like an angry mother.

‘’I said chill! Nothing bad is going on I’m just lying a little’’ the girl grinned. ‘’Anyways the name is Amy Stone, first year’’ she said and like she felt that there was nothing else to be said she unlocked her phone and started to play with it again.

‘’you know, you can’t do anything to her for using her phone, body and skills like she wants to’’ the boy on the tree said and inhaled the cigarette and blew the smoke to the air.

‘’Hey, you stop that as well!’’ said Alex joining into the scolding. ‘’That’s bad for your health’’

Tyler thought that the eyes of the boy turned black for a second but when he blinked they went back to normal. ‘’You don’t fucking tell me what to do’’ he stood up on the branch and taking another whiff of smoke and blowing it at them.

This made the whole group blow up in anger.

‘’Hey! Using those kinds of things are forbidden by the school!’’ protested Lucia. ‘’You will hurt yourself!’’ joined Winnifred. ‘’Blow that thing one more time on my face, I dare you!’’ growled Husky.

‘’Guys, calm down, let’s talk!’’ Tyler tried as the blonde girl laughed and the other boy flipped them off while the squad kept yelling at them like dogs barking at cats.

He swallowed, hard not knowing what to do he felt anxiety rising up his chest and the voice that he thought he could ignore started to talk again. ‘’Guys, please stop’’ he tried and nobody was listening.

‘’Give me your name, I will go right away to tell the teachers about you’’ Threatened Lucia.

‘’Dante Allen! Do as you please, dumbass’’ the boy on the tree grinned.

‘’How did you just called her?’’ yelled Alex taking a step forward to the tree.

He felt the voice rising more and more, maybe he will explode like he did with those bullies who tried to harass Zacharias and Ophelia, and he didn’t want that, he wanted to control himself to let this thing inside him pass and go away but Tyler felt more and more ready to blow everything to pieces.

And then, there was a snapping sound. The boy on the tree, Dante, turned quiet and looked down to the roots of the tree; the girl locked her phone and also looked to her side.

The snapping sound came from the game console being closed; the girl who was playing with it stood up slowly and looked at the squad blowing a bubble of gum on her pink painted lips. She played with her big hair dyed in dark purple and when the bubble blow up she spoke to them. ‘’You are being too nosy, if Amy wants to go around and report perverts to the police after taking their money it’s her own free will and you don’t know what kind of shit Dante has been through so kindly shut your traps’’ she said stepping into Tyler’s personal space.

For a second Tyler felt the voice fading away, as this girl stared into his eyes and he thought about what she said he thought that maybe she was right, everyone has their own story and their own way to do stuff he should leave those people by themselves… but there was a part of him that couldn’t help but think that they were doing something wrong.

‘’It’s not okay’’ Tyler said looking back to the girl, she was short but something on her attitude made Tyler want to step back but he didn’t, he stood his ground.

‘’It seems like you don’t understand, I’m telling you to stay the hell out of this’’ she said and then pushed Tyler back, in a second Husky was in front of her ready to launch himself but in the same second Amy was in front of the girl.

‘’By the way, my name is Nelly Nedd and you better stay the fuck away from us’’ the girl said.

Next thing they knew, Husky was flying through the air; something weird, like a wave of some sort of force came out of Amy’s body and sent Husky to the air and fell several meters back.

‘’Husky!’’ yelled Tyler worried rushing to his side but Dante covered his own eyes with his hat and then something dark surrounded the roots of the trees and several roots came to tie them down to the ground.

Bound, gagged and useless, Tyler fell to the ground in front of Husky who looked lost and dizzy, he heard the group of first years laughing and going away.

Tyler was struggling with the roots when a sound came rushing towards them and Husky came into view from the bushes, he quickly summoned his wand and casted a cutting spell so the binds would be broken. As soon as he was Free Tyler went to Husky and held his face on his hands. ‘’Husky, Husky are you alright?’’ he asked looking at his eyes dashing side to side but he soon started to shake his head and finally held his sight back to Tyler’s, he nodded. ‘’I’m alright’’ he said.

Tyler sighted a breath of relief, ‘’what the hell did just happen?’’ Asked Winn helping them all up, ‘’Who are those bad kids?’’ complained Lucia rubbing her wrists.

Tyler tried to help Husky get up and he looked a little bit dizzy but he was alright. ‘’Damn that little girl can pack a punch’’ Husky said rubbing his head a bit, Tyler let out a small laugh ‘’Are you alright?’’ Tyler asked and Husky nodded.

Tyler stared at the space that was left by those kids. Lucia said it, bad kids and it surely felt like that but there was something else that Tyler recognized in the eyes of those kids, something that he couldn’t quite place yet and he couldn’t help but think that he wanted to know what is wrong with them.

.

After classes were over Christopher had to take time to raid Winn’s closet to try and find suitable clothes for his meeting with the king, predictably he could only found uniforms and some casual clothes that were from the average mage to wear, he looked at them in distaste and with even more distaste in his mouth he decided to lend something of his to Winn.

He forced the guy to dress in one of his silk dark green long sleeved shirts with black embroideries of leaves and his black cape, some dark pants and shiny black shoes to match, he also enchanted his hair to stay slicked backwards. He kind of reminded himself of the way his butler Jackson would dress him against his own will and he found this experience kind of funny when he expression of discomfort of Winn’s face.

He also dressed nicely in case his grandfather wanted to talk to him but he wished he didn't had to speak with him, there was something, all the time, on the king's aura that he always feared or felt anxious about so he preferred if they didn't had to talk that day.

At the time which was previously instructed by his grandfather he turned on the CIM on a table at the center of the room and in front of him was Winn all dressed up and sitting straight on a chair, the device turned on and in came the face of Jackson politely smiling at Winn. ''Sir Luciferus, I presume?'' he asked making Winn nod and bow in respect, the butler did the same and then with his eyes searched the room for the image of Christopher. ''My prince, according to your grandfather's instructions... you won't be needed here today'' he said giving him a flash of a sight and soon Christopher understood the meaning behind that sight.

His grandfather didn't needed him for this meeting with Winn and normally he would be glad to leave someone else to speak with the king but that look on Jackson's face told him that he needed to stay, perhaps hidden to hear what he had to say. Christopher however shrugged his shoulders and exited the room but leaving a small opening on the door so he could press his ear to it and listen.

''Please rise for the king of Crystalia, King Christian the great'' he announced and Winn promptly got up from his chair and bowed respectfully as the image of the king appeared on the CIM and then the king sat down. The projection of the CIM made it look like the king was actually sitting in front of him and Winn didn't show it on his face but he felt really nervous at the moment. There was not much personal knowledge on the king's whole persona, people knew him as a wise monarch, good to his people and relentless on political matters as well as a knowledgeable war strategist but not many people knew him personally enough to speak well or ill of him, that part remained a mystery. ''Please be seated'' the king said making him sit straight on his chair.

''Nice to meet you, young Luciferus. Let me say how forward I was looking for this meeting'' he king smiled. ''Thank you very much, King Christian'' Winn respectfully answered. ''Sadly I don't have enough time so let's go straight to business, first I need to praise you on this invention of yours, the 'CIM' is that the name right?'' the king asked keeping a smile on his face but a fierce look on Winn's eyes who expression remained politely serious. ''Yes, it stands for the Crystal Image taker, I changed it to CIM it has a better appeal, although I've been told it's just a magical version of a mortal device called the Cellphone'' he said leaning forward cracking a smile which seemed to please the king as he laughed a bit. ''Yes I actually heard of those, however I don't think they measure to yours, the CIM provides an image and a new way to see things, in the right hands it can provide the right way of entertainment as well'' the king said making Winn look straight at him.

''Entertainment, your majesty?'' he asked. ''That is right, that's the reason I wanted to speak with you, young man; you see, we are trying to bring a new way of entertainment to the magical world, radio shows and newspapers only go so far to offer information and exciting things to the world but I believe that with the CIM we can show the world many things, like news, sports, theater, you name it'' he king said. 

Winn bit his tongue when he was about to compare it to a mortal television that he actually had the oportunity to enjoy on the mortal world when he visited Tyler and Lucia as he knew immediately what this was.

it was a business opportunity with the king of one of the richest kingdoms in the meta world.

Christopher on his part spent the whole time listening to them arrange the details for a new business idea and although it was pretty boring, Christopher couldn't help but wonder why Jackson wanted him to listen to this conversation. Sure he hated Winn but he didn't care if this business would bring him more or less money he was slightly annoyed because it would mean to see the boy even after graduation as this seems to be something that would last a long time in the magical world and sure the promise of another way of entertainment for the magical world was also interesting but these were things that Christopher honestly didn't give a damn about so he kept wondering why Jackson wanted him to listen to this.

But then when he thought they were about done with the details of the first ideas for this project the king shifted slightly on his seat, something he only did when there was an ulterior motive in his brain. Christopher paid extra attention and sure enough he didn't like what he heard.  
''Now that this seems to be done let me ask something not business related, my grandson, you are his roommate, right?'' he asked with that fake smile he learned to perfect when he wanted something. ''That is correct'' answered Winn without a second thought. ''I see, is he near us right now?'' the king asked and Winn denied with his head not even looking at the cracked open door. ''No, your majesty'' he answered.

Then the king leaned back on his chair and sighed. ''You see, it has come to my attention that my grandson has become infatuated with another boy in your class, I wish that this doesn't become a problem''

Silence, for a few seconds there was silence only the low humming sound of the CIM was heard around the place, Christopher outside stood silent and the first thing that came to his mind was 'How does he know' it came before the usual denial that he was not infatuated with anyone specially not a boy specially not...

''Forgive me, your majesty, I don't understand'' said Winn blinking a couple times trying to get the information to actually stay on his brain, the king nodded solemnly, ''You see, for us and specially for the kingdom it is of extreme importance that the prince chooses wisely and marries one of the many suitable girls that had already been presented to him since childhood, the lineage of our family needs to be strong if we want to keep a strong kingdom... we wouldn't want that because of something so silly as an enamored boy things would suddenly go...bad'' the king said raising then his sight towards Winn and there was something intense in that sight something fierce and dangerous that Winn didn't like, he kept quiet.

''It has also come to my attention that the boy in this matter is a friend of yours, a very close friend of yours, and an Irregular at that. Please understand that we do not wish to cause any harm to irregulars and their kind, our kingdom has always been...fair on employing irregulars as fit or unfit as they might be for work, but we cannot have the prince wanting to get involved with someone with no background, no royal lineage and no meaning of bearing a heir''

Outside Christopher clenched his fists, this was what Jackson wanted him to hear, the plans his grandfather had for him, plans that of course he already knew but seemed like he was pressing this matter now behind his back and the only explanation for it should be because he probably wanted to move things along and soon press Christopher to choose a bride. But of course he still wanted to keep Christopher under his hand, obedient, happy and compliant, Christopher wouldn't be all of these things if he was to be married unhappily and because of this... because his grandfather thought he was in love with Tyler he needed to get rid of the issue right away.

Christopher wanted to barge inside, yell that he is not interested in Tyler and wanted to make his grandfather understand that if he were to choose someone to marry he would do it as the kingdom is expecting but... he couldn't not because he didn't want to interrupt or cause a scene, at this point he could do it and it would be justified but because he couldn't barge in and see Tyler's friend in the face, see his grandfather in the face and Jackson and deny to all of them that he was not interested in Tyler.

Even if there was some force preventing him to say it to the world his heart already knew for a while what his feelings were.

''Listen I do wish to continue this project with you and of course set the proper contracts and have them reviewed by whoever you wish so we can have a trustworthy business partnership but I also need some help in this matter, I need someone on the inside who would help me, the boy is your friend and believe me in the long term he wouldn't want to be in this situation either and my grandson is my top priority... What I need of you is to help me, help me end this silly thing my grandson is feeling and in doing so you will help your friend not get any feelings hurt and will have this business going'' The king stated and stared straight into the boy's eyes.

Winn is a kid, still worries about how much candy he will have at the end of the week if he keeps betting with his friends, he still worries about his familiar and how much did it ate that day, he worries about what clothes to wear if nobody is helping him choose and about the appropriate times to speak in a conversation with his friends but right now he was being talked to as an adult who had a business proposed and also a deal being placed on the table to keep his friend safe... but of course Winn was after all perceptive and smart. He knew since the start that the king was not speaking to him as an adult because he trusted his intelligence but because he wanted to impress him in speaking to him as an equal.

But they were not equals, Winn was a bit ahead of the king in this game... yes, since right now Winn had started a game of chess with the king and if he wanted to win in the end he needed to step back a tiny bit and let the king trust that he is one of hi pawns. ''I will do it'' he said right away as soon as the king stopped talking.

A pleasant smile was drawn on the king's lips, he nodded ''Very well, if we can keep these conversations and I can keep seeing the change in my grandson regarding this boy I will make sure your invention is well financed and this project of ours will be revolutionary for the whole meta world'' the king finished some well rehearsed speech and then bid the boy goodbye then as soon as the CIM turned off Winn took a sigh, wrapped the CIM on some cloth and placed it on his bed.

''You can come in now'' he said and the door blasted open letting Christopher in, he slammed it shut behind him and he started yelling ''I don't know what shit deal you are stating with my grandfather but I am not infatuated with any irregular and I am not someone who need to be taken care by the likes of you!'' he yelled and Winn sat on his bed, he crossed his legs and a smirk came to his face.

''You are not what?'' he said unwrapping again the CIM and quickly showing the best image he has taken of Ty, a normal image of him laughing with the sun in his eyes, Nox on his lap and his hair all messy. Winn took it last term after one of their spiritism class where he was laughing about some joke and Nox was relaxing with him, the sun shined in a way that made his eyes shine so bright, the brightness he lost after the fire. Christopher seemed to lost all anger when the image appeared in front of him and only an expression of awe was painted in his face.

and then it disappeared, Winn covered the CIM and looked straight into Christopher. ''I don't know why you keep denying it and honestly I don't care, personally I believe that Tyler would be better without someone like you chasing him but there is also something else telling me that what you feel is honest... and an honest feeling coming from you is ought to be a dime a dozen'' he said, Christopher clicked his tongue. ''Tyler is dealing with a lot of things right now but... I've seen the sights you exchange when you think people are not watching, there is... something there'' Winn said looking now more thoughtful and finally breaking the sight he kept on Christopher.

'something there?' thought Christopher, a spark of hope or something shined in his heart. ''I don't know what you are talking about!'' he said trying to turn that spark into ashed. Winn sighed. ''I am offering some help here, there is a part of me telling me this is a terrible idea but Tyler's happiness comes first right now''

''And I'm telling you that I don't need any help with anything!'' that was a lie but he could not let anyone know about what he was feeling or at least what he was planning.

''He is mad at you because you keep pushing other irregulars around'' Winn said stopping Christopher on his tracks. ''W-what'' he muttered, Winn kept explaining. ''If my theory is correct Tyler wants to help change your mind on things, irregulars specially and he is upset you keep pushing others around while you are nice to him.... that's probably the reason why he keeps avoiding you'' he explained. 

''How can you know any of this?'' Christopher asked perplexed. ''I observe, I keep quiet and observe, I've seen how you treat others and how you changed recently with him, and you seemed pretty upset when he stopped talking to you and you know how righteous Tyler can be, he would be upset if you were to treat people unfairly so I just put two and two together and that's the theory''

Christopher turned around he marched to his closet and picked up something casual to wear, he mumbled some curses and started to get changed while million of thoughts came to his mind. ''Just treat other's nicely, he will like that, you will talk again, I will tell your grandfather that you are staying away from him and I get to keep my contract with this business, deal?'' Winn smiled, Christopher walked to the door. ''Fuck off!'' he yelled and stormed out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well there we go! things are sure to be interesting in the next few chapters!  
> I hope you guys keep reading and enjoying a lot!


	7. Chapter 7: The Cursed Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New one here! things at work changed a lot and I almost have nothing to do for now so I wrote this right away :D  
> Enjoy the new one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW daaaamn Rony back at it again with the long chapters!
> 
> This chapter finally has songs  
> Songs for the chapter:
> 
> Waste by Foster the People  
> Pyro by Kings of Leon.

Chapter 7: The Cursed Kids

For Justine and Chance something like missing a lead could really mess them up mentally, they believed they were onto something when they sent for a rookie to find a book that contained the ingredients and potions to create explosions so they could try to find some clues but when they arrived that day at the library where the rookie were to be waiting for them they found themselves with a very ugly sight.

SMACK agents everywhere, a messed up library and worse of all the rookie frozen, petrified with blood coming out of his head. His hand seemed like it was holding something that was taken from him and they knew that whoever attacked the place had stole the book that contained the ingredients that they could investigate. They lost their clue.

They took the rookie quickly to the hospital to try to melt the ice on his veins before it was too late and a couple of days later, after waiting for him to wake up both detectives were next to his bed ready to ask him what happened.

''I don't remember much, I remember sending the message that I found the book to you and after that I got shot on the arm, my body got cold and then another shot on the head almost made me pass out, I tried to fight back and hide as well but the next shot petrified me and that's all I can remember at the moment'' the small framed young man explained, he looked not older than 20 years old, looking at him Chance had a feeling of concern and care, someone so young being attacked like that on one of their first missions was ought to be upsetting for a lot of officers.

''Smith, how are you feeling now?'' Chance asked trying to look professionally concerned but it looked like his actual feelings were showing too much as Smith looked at him for a moment before smiling. ''I feel great! this is nothing compared to what other's have been through, believe me. Besides my girlfriend has been taking care of me so I need to get better soon so I can stop worrying her'' Smith the rookie said grinning. 

Justine who was also feeling bad for the young agent suddenly felt better looking at him so cheerful. ''Very well, if that is the case then we will leave you to rest now, let us know if you remember anything else'' she said and got up to leave with Chance when Smith let out a humming sound like he was thinking about something.

''Actually, I was able to look at some of the ingredients on some powders and a potion before I was attacked'' he said bringing the attention to both. ''Seriously? would you be able to list them?'' Chance asked bringing a notepad and a pen to the rookie. ''Of course, let me see...'' Smith said and started to write some ingredients.

After writing what he could remember they proceeded to leave but Smith called their attention once more. ''Detectives, please get those fuckers and get those kids back'' he said smiling innocently, Chance nodded and Justine laughed a bit at the sight of such an innocent looking man using swear words and smiling like that.

They left and walked to the exit of the hospital. ''Do you remember how it was to be that happy when working on a case?'' Justine asked reviewing the ingredients on the notepad. ''I still get excited whenever we caught a bad guy, although most of the time our team is just used for protecting politicians and important people if we manage to stop someone from doing something bad I get excited'' he said as they walked to the parking lot of the hospital, they climbed on top of their floating car and Chance started the ignition. After a few seconds they elevated to the legally permitted height to drive a floating car and flew off.

''We will need to go to the judge so they can give us a permit to search for these ingredients around the market'' Justine said. ''Why? do you think the culprits really bought these ingredients around the market?'' Chance asked while stopping to let some witches pass on their brooms. ''Most of these ingredients are fast rotting ingredients, they go bad after a few hours so my thought is that they had to buy them and prepare whatever they used to blow the vaults right at the scene, we will need to search the stores and shops that have these ingredients but they would probably won't like it, so a permit from the judge would really help us out on this'' She said.

''Well, to the judge it is then'' Chance said and flew off.  
.

''Absolutely not! '' Exclaimed the judge, Justice Palmerson, the judge that was supposed to give them the permits, ''B-but Judge Palmerson, you need to listen to us, those permits will help us'' Justine tried but the judge raised her hand. ''And I'm telling you that I cannot give you something like that without more proof that something an officer remembered from a book that was stolen which was a weak proof in the first place'' she said.

Chance stood there looking going back and forward feeling awkward as hell, he was sure that most of the time things wouldn't go like this, normally he would be there to help his partner convince the judge but since Justice Palmerson and Justine Justice were mother and daughter he thought that it was better to sit this one out.

Justine was adopted when she was a child, Justice Palmerson who at the time was called Justice Justice taking the last name of her husband adopted her and raised her as her child, later the judge Justice divorced her husband and took upon her maidens name back along with the full custody of Justine.

He knew the story, everyone knew the story but it was still confusing to name them both. For example. ''Um, Justice?'' he asked and both women looked at him. ''Yes?'' they both asked at the same time, ''Oh, I meant Justine'' he said smiling awkwardly and Justine came closer to him. ''Do you think it's better to back down for know? I mean we can come back later with more proof'' he whispered to her and she looked annoyed. ''No! she is just mad because I didn't went to dinner with her last week!'' she whispered back. 

''I can hear you, you know?'' the judge said looking at them from her desk. ''And I am not mad at that! you can come and go whenever you please and when you are drunk and passed out and your friends bring you at three in the morning to my place of course you can crash down in your old room and not come to dinner with me the next day when I asked you to! of course you can do that'' The judge said obviously mocking Justine who went back to the desk. 

''Mom! stop that, just give us the permit!'' Justine said and the judge looked straight into her eyes. ''Here I'm judge Palmerson and you know that, bring me more proof and I will give you the permit!'' the judge said back.

And this is why Chance always tried to stay away from family business, specially when it came to these two, he knew that the best course of action would be to retire so he tried to convince Justine to just give up but she kept going for her mother's throat until there was a knock on the door and an agent came in to request for the judge's presence on a case, he dismissed them then saying that her job was far more important than this childish fight

However when they turned to leave she did say ''Oh and I expect you to be at dinner later this week, bring Chance with you'' she smiled making Justine cringe internally and they both exited the room.  
Walking outside the court for magical affairs Justine kept a sour face, Chance sighed, it would be far too difficult to work with her if she kept this mood so he decided on something that he hadn't done in a while.

''Why don't we just... go and rough them up a bit?'' he said not looking at Justine. ''What?'' she asked getting out from the pouting stance she had taken. ''Let's go, ask our questions and if they get touchy with us...'' he lifter a fist and flexed a bicep ''We can just get aggressive'' he grinned watching the light on Justine's eyes coming back. ''Yes! let's do it! oh yes Chance, this is so exciting we haven't punched people in a while!'' she jumped up and down in excitement.

He knew that would get her excited, she was that kind of firecracker type of person so of course she would be excited for something like this. ''But we are not rookies anymore, we have other positions and we need to take care of them, alright? promise me you will control yourself'' Chance warned her and Justine looked at him like he was crazy. ''Hey! I'm always in control'' she protested. ''three broken ribs, a traumatized man in the hospital and three cheetahs loose in the middle of the street are not being in control, Justine!'' he shot back making her back down for a second and then she shrugged. ''The cheetah guy had it coming'' she said, Chance looked at her with warning in his eyes and she sighed. ''Alright I will take care not to send anyone to the hospital'' she said and Chance seemingly agreeing to believe her nodded and they walked to the car.  
.  
It's been three hours and so far they had not recovered any leads as to where the ingredients were bought, they did had however a few scared vendors, a few invaluable vases broken and the occasional punch in the gut to someone who was mouthy enough to call Justine's dreadlocks unsanitary and ugly.... that punch came from Chance who went ballistic towards the vendor who said the comment, the guy seemed to be worthless when Chance was done with him but he managed to spit 'among some literal vile' the name of a store where some ingredients might be stored.

''Martin Martinez' Apothecary'' Justine read out loud looking at the shabby old place from outside, the small establishment was on the bowels of the marketplace, you would need to take several steps down an old brick path on that would lead to the old place, not many people were around this area of the marketplace as it seemed it only sold things of less quality at a slightly higher price, it seemed and odd marketing strategy to Justine but she guessed that it was because they were trying to cover for some other goods on sale, having old ingredients at a higher price would discourage many usual buyers but if you were looking for some...harder to find items this might be the place to find them.

There was something on the name of the shop that caught the attention of Justine, just for a moment she thought of it before coming inside with Chance. 

The inside of the store looked just as old, there was a small entry where the patrons would stand surrounded of old roots, misty looking jars with unusual liquids and several small animal parts stored on baskets, the smell of old spices and incense filled the place and made Justine want to cringe her nose a bit but she remained observant.

They came further into the store until they found the service desk and rang the bell, for a moment nobody came so Chance rang again and a small door behind the desk opened to let a smaller old man out who looked a bit displeased to have visitors. ''I hear you, I hear you'' he grumbled annoyed and climbed to a bench behind the desk. ''What can I do for you?'' he asked not really on a polite manner.

''Mr. Martinez, I presume?'' Chance started smiling brightly, too bright for this gloomy place. ''I'm Agent Pride and this is Detective Justice, we were wishing you had some time to answer some questions regarding some ingredients we believe you have in this store'' he asked and the man jumped from his chair and walked to the small door from where he came. Justine started to look into her notepad for something.

''Come back when you have an order, if you don't have one I don't have to answer shit'' the small man said and a shot was fired from the tip of Chance's wand that was on the device on his wrist. The shot shut the door closed and locked it. ''Well you see Mr. Martinez, we were 'really' hoping you had the time to answer these questions'' he said, his smile more dangerous now and he clenched his fist, directed the wand on the device on his wrist towards the entry of the shop and took another shot and as a small light surrounded the walls of the store every window and secret passage was locked immediately.

''I told you to come back with an order, now leave my store at once!'' the man said firmly, Justine looked at him for a bit and kept her search on her notebook. ''We just need to ask you if you had any Draconia roots in your possession as you might know they are very delicate and rot after a few hours of light exposure so we believe this dark store might be the best place to have them, or maybe some Blasty snail shells? those are endangered you see, really hard to find around here'' Chance questioned the man seemed uncomfortable but kept his stance. ''Leave now!'' he yelled.

Chance looked at Justine for some help but she seemed to preoccupied with her notes at the moment, with an internal sigh he kept pressing the matters, he pointed his wand at the old man. ''Now, we really, really need the information sir, if you could just cooperate we would be very thankful, we don't need to take this too far and-'' Chance said but stopped when the man let out a laugh. ''And what? shoot me? an old man? that will look beautiful in your record Mr. Pride, agent of SMACK one of the cleanest records in the force with a high clearing rate'' the man said making Chance blinked a couple times.. ''That is right! I know who you are, and I know little Miss quiet over there as well'' he said looking at Justine still reading her notes. ''Yes, pretending she doesn't listen, Miss Justine Justice, daughter of the great judge Palmerson, I wonder what your mother would think if she knew you are abusing your position, that is right I know more than you think!'' the man threatened and it was then when Justine finally looked at him.

''And I know you Mr. Martin Martinez and I know why you are hiding the things you know'' she said without any expression on her face, the smile on the man disappeared. Justine placed her notepad back into her pocket. ''Mr. Martin Martinez, born and raised on Pumpkin City, student of Diaz' and graduated with honors, found a mortal woman who you fell in love and you had a little girl called Mariana who had no magic, you separated your wife afterwards and she raised her on the mortal world while you worked here by yourself, alone'' she said and came close to the desk, the man seemed clearly shocked. ''You didn't spoke with your daughter much, only on rare occasions and you though that you would die of loneliness, you thought that for a long time even when she assured you she wouldn't let that happen and she begged you to come visit you but you denied it, you didn't want her to suffer any kind of repercussions from magicals who didn't like mortals very much. You hid here and kept her away and you stood in loneliness until the joy of your life came'' she said leaning now over the desk.

''Please stop...'' the man begged but Justice knew when to go for the kill, she was a predator, she would see her pray and attack when she had the chance and right now she had it.

''Mari Lu was born, and she was born being an irregular, oh you were both scared and excited for her, because when she got admitted to Diaz you were trusted with her to come and go to school and for years you were so happy to see her grow into the beautiful and talented sorceress she is! and she had a hard life at school, of course she had, being an irregular and all but she kept smiling through it all, through he gum on her hair, the bruises on her arms and the wet school materials and toilet paper stocked on her pocket packs, she kept growing strong and hopeful until she reached the end of her fifth year... and she got kidnapped'' she said, the man at this point was a sobbing mess looking to the ground. ''She was taken by them, the rioters, the one's that are to blame for making Irregular's lives even rougher than they already were... they took her last year at the end of the school year and you have been suffering so much without her, without her light'' 

The man was kneeling on the ground, tears streaming down his face even Chance got to think that she might've gone a bit overboard and that's saying something knowing the fact that he almost broke someone's jaw a few stores before this one searching for information.

Justine climbed over the desk and came to the kneeling man on the ground. ''You couldn't do anything to help her, to save her, but we can, we can help your grand daughter, we just need to find the people who did this and get her safe and sound, please, we have a list of ingredients we are pretty sure were bought from this store to explode the vaults a couple weeks ago, we believe that the people who did this are the ones who took your granddaughter'' the man finally looked up and Justine pleaded to him. ''Help us so we can save her, please'' she said and for a while the man didn't respond he seemed entrance in thought like he was deciding what to do and in the end he nodded and got up from the ground.

He looked tired and far older now, he pulled up a small bench and sat on it still cleaning a few remnants of tears from his face, ''They came about one hour before the incident, they asked me to keep quiet and requested the items I sensed danger as soon as I read the list and I denied to sell them the ingredients, and then..'' he stopped for a second and took a breath. ''Then they produced an image of my dear Mari Lu, she was tied up to a chair on a dungeon and I immediately knew who they were, they ordered me to give them the items and then threw the money on the floor, all in golden coins, I asked them to give me back my grandchild but they said that she will serve a greater purpose and then they poofed themselves out of here... several moments later I heard the explosions and I knew I couldn't talk to anyone, I knew that the moment I would seek help my dear Mari Lu would pay the price.... but I am far too old and tired to do anything for her... please if this can help you find her, do it and bring her back to me'' the man pleaded with teary eyes.

Justine felt her heart squeeze for a moment, using a kid like that was downright evil, showing her tied up to his grandfather who cared for her more than anything in the world was just being sadistic, she wondered what they meant for 'a greater purpose' but she focused in a clue far more important than the ingredients.

''We will do all that is in our power and more to get them all back, but if you really want to help us we would need you to remember what you sold them so we can try to track them'' Said Chance.

''I remember everything, I could never forget what I sold those men'' the old man said. ''Do you remember their faces?'' Chance asked and the man denied with the head. ''They were wearing masks and hoods, there were two of them, a really tall one who spoke and the other one who produced the money... I will write the ingredients right now'' the man said and started writing a list on a piece of parchment that was on his desk.

''What did you do, with the money whey gave you?'' asked Justine. ''I didn't want to touch it, i didn't want to think about it even it was like I sold my little girl's freedom for a few coins but I couldn't leave it just laying around the store so I have it on a box on the back of the store'' he said.

'Bingo' thought Justine and directed his sight to Chance. ''We will need to place protections on this house and call for some guards to look after this place'' She said, Chance nodded and proceeded to write a note to send to the station with his familiar. ''Try to ask for the most trustworthy ones'' requested Justine and then directed her sight to the old man. ''We will need to see the money as well, if you can'' she said and the man agreed to it, finished the list and went to the back of the store to retrieve a wooden box with some golden coins inside.

Chance looked at her ''What are you planning?'' he asked seriously. ''We will track them with this'' she smirked.  
....

After his talk with Winn, Christopher was angry and kept walking outside his room over and over until he decided to go take a walk outside, he couldn't talk to Pamela who was still angry at him so he just kept pacing around the halls of the castle until he saw a figure on a bench at the end of one of the hallways.

All alone was Zacharias Bennett, reading a book with his usual serious stoic face now turned into a serious frown... and then it came into Christopher's mind.

He didn't knew what kind of game Winn was playing now wanting to be a matchmaker with the silly idea that Tyler and him had something going on but he knew that he was angry and wanted to keep with his plan and now thanks to Winn he knew why Tyler was avoiding him in the first place and he knew how to get back into his good side to keep his plan going.

He would have to play nice.

He wondered how he should tackle this issue and try to talk to this weird haired boy when he saw a ball flying out of nowhere and knocking the book out of his hands, soon he saw a couple of upperclassmen showing up to retrieve the ball and seemingly tease the boy... he knew how to play nice now.

''Hey!'' he said getting close to the scene, one of the older boys looked at him and recognized him immediately. '' what the hell do you think you are doing?'' he charged towards them. ''We were just playing with the new freak, that's all'' he said and usually he would've laugh at the remark but right now he was pretending to care. ''Well that's one of my underclassmen and I would like it if you would leave him alone'' he said his stare holding onto the bigger boy's eyes.

When nobody moved the took a step forward. ''What? you didn't hear me?'' he sad moving his body on a way where his cape moved and it showed to them a small pin with the royal symbol, one of them gulped and apologized, not to the boy but to Christopher and proceeded to leave. ''You must think that I'm a fool, you didn't do anything to me and yet you are apologizing, you should say those things to this boy over here and then pick up the book you so rudely threw to the ground'' 

Both boys looked at each other and muttered an apology to the boy and gave them back his book and proceeded to scatter away quickly. He hated the feeling that left, he hated whenever he used his position as prince to get something but he thought that for the sake of his revenge this was something he had to do even when it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He turned to look at the boy who was looking at him surprised, he felt almost like laughing but Christopher kept it to himself, he didn't want to give away anything from his act. ''Are you alright?'' he asked and the boy slowly nodded. ''Christopher'' he said not offering a hand but introducing himself nonetheless. ''Zacharias'' said the boy.

Christopher looked straight into his eyes... well, his eye since the other was hidden on locks of hair. ''The other day, I was kind of angry and took it out on you, I never apologize for anything but I felt bad since that day so take what I just did however you want, an apology... kindness, whatever'' he said.

Zacharias looked at him for a while like trying to read him and it kind of made him uncomfortable, he felt weird being stared at with only one eye so he rolled his eyes. ''Hey, try to lift your hair a little, you would look at people better'' he said and slowly attempted to reach his hand towards his hair, Zacharias for a second looked startled and a bit baffled but he let the hand almost reach him... but the hand never touched his hair.

Like a flash someone came between them, in a second Tyler was spreading his arms in front of Zacharias like he was a wall standing between him and Christopher, the cold stare on Ty's face sent an annoying shiver down Christopher's spine but he recovered quick, he tried to say something but Ty turned around to Zach.

''Hey, are you alright? are you hurt?'' Ty asked and Zach denied with his head. ''He helped me'' Zach said looking bashful and looking down, trying to hide half of his face with his hair. Tyler looked at him a bit startled and then turned to look at Christopher with a questioning stare.

Christopher felt mad, yeah Tyler of course had reasons to believe he would insult this kid but for some reason seeing him running to this kid's aid and not speaking to him and then being surprised for him acting kindly made him upset.

''What, are you surprised I wanted to right my wrongs?'' He asked almost growling lowly at the questioning look Tyler had... if he had a question he could ask! not ignoring him like this!

''You know Suarez, you claim to be so good and give all a chance but you don't know me'' Christopher claimed... but Tyler knew him, he knew how tricky he could be. ''You can't know how I am'' he did. ''How kind or unkind I can be'' he did ''and how I handle the messes that I make'' but Christopher never handled his messes.... and even though all the things he said were lies there was something shifting inside of Tyler, something that Christopher identified as Tyler believing him, something that he identified as a victory.

Christopher pretended to be angrier than he was and stomped away smirking to himself... his plan was still in motion.

Tyler turned to Zacharias, ''Are you alright?'' he asked and he nodded in response, Tyler smiled. ''I'm glad'' and then he turned to leave but Zacharias' voice stopped him. ''You are always trying to save me, why?'' he asked all monotone. ''Because I couldn't save people before'' Ty responded and took a seat next to him, when Zacharias didn't seem uncomfortable he took it as a sign that it was alright. 

''Listen, I know I said some unkind things to you but that's because I care about Rory a lot and it seems like I started with the wrong foot with you but you... your sister and all of the irregulars, I really wish we can get a long and be friends'' Tyler said smiling at Zach who seemed surprised and hid his face under his hair, cheeks painted in red.

''Rory.. I mean, Papa, he said that you were kind, I'm glad that he was right'' Zacharias said making Tyler laugh but the fact that he called Rory 'Papa' didn't went unnoticed, he took it as a signal that things were getting better between them. ''I don't know if I'm kind or not, I just want us to be alright'' Tyler grinned, Zacharias finally looked at him and even though he didn't smiled he seemed calm. 

''Zach... you can call me Zach'' Zacharias said, Tyler sighed. ''You can call me Ty!'' he responded. They looked at each other in comfortable silence and a small wind went between them, Zach's hair flew a bit on the air and Tyler quickly noticed a scar under his right eye. 

''Whoa, Zach are you hurt?'' Tyler said quickly but kindly grabbing his face and Zach seemed taken by surprise, he gently took Tyler's hand away and denied the question with his head. ''I was hurt a long time ago...'' Zach responded, he seemed to be thinking about something and then nodded to himself. ''You know how my sister can't see? that's because before we got adopted we got into some incident and her eyes got cursed, a different curse fell on my right eye and I am unable to see from it'' he explained and lifted his hair to show his closed eyelid, a big scar running from the top of his forehead to the lower part of his eyelid.

Then Zach slowly opened his eye and Tyler was able to see a mismatch of color, his good eye was blue as the sky but the cursed eye was dark red. ''I'm blind from this side, unlike my sister's curse that can be temporary reverted by a potion she needs to take every few weeks, my curse cannot be lifted or reverted'' he explained.

Tyler looked at him with kind eyes, not pity or disgust, he looked and carefully ran his thumb through the scar. ''I'm sorry that happened to you, how do you feel about it?'' he asked.

Tyler had the feeling Zach wanted to smile but he didn't do it, he only seemed more comfortable to be there with Ty and when Ty retired his hands he let his hair fall back in front of his eye. ''I manage, I'm not happy about it of course but I've been living like this for a while so I can manage'' he assured Tyler.

They talked for a bit more, Zach seemed to be more open about the things he wanted to say and they talked about his classes and about his sister a bit more, soon it was his time to say goodbye but he thanked Tyler for helping him and before leaving he said. ''You know that boy, he seemed kind as well, he helped me and apologized for last time... I think he is worth your time'' and then he left.

Tyler leaned back on the bench and thought for a while... Christopher seemed to be very angry at Tyler for ignoring him and he seemed like he got the point as to why Tyler was angry in the first place, he thought that maybe it was time to try to speak to him, he got up and started to think of ways to settle up a meeting on the beach as they used to have when he got called by a familiar voice.

''Tyler!'' came the voice, Tyler turned and saw four familiar faces running towards him. ''D-Dean! Dino, Serene, Rhonda!'' Tyler said excited running toward the group, his teammates from the Choir. ''Tyler! it's been a while'' Rhonda, big and motherly hugged him and lifted him up from the ground, ''You will smother him, Rhonda!'' Serene protested and when Rhonda let him go hugged him with the same force, the rest laughed.

Dino didn't hugged him, he nodded and Tyler nodded back, huge Dino with his big rippling muscles, angry scowl face and now a black and red Mohawk was always looking angry at the world and even when Tyler knew he was kind he still got scared of him. Dean went and gave him a brotherly hug. ''Tyler, it's so good to see you we've been looking everywhere for you''

Dean Li, the tall and handsome, kind captain of the magical choir team, since last year he helped Ty work out his voice and they performed together on the regional competition last term. His face seemed happy but then it feel sympathetic. ''We... heard about everything just recently, about your house, your parents... your voice, everything, how are you holding up?'' Dean asked.

Tyler heard those questions before, he heard them from almost everyone who wanted to know the hot gossip about what happened to his home and his parents and honestly he grew tired pretty quick of answering to his classmates but right now Dean and the group seemed to be honestly concerned so he didn't felt annoyed to answer. ''I manage...'' he said smiling sadly. 

Dino placed a big hand on his shoulder. ''Hold on there, we are here to support you'' he said not changing his scowl. Rhonda seemed on the verge of tears but she agreed with Dino, ''Once a member of the team, always a member of the team!'' Rhonda said proudly but Serene let out a blow of air and rolled her eyes. ''Yeah, right'' she said annoyed and Dean nudged her with the elbow. ''Serene!'' he harshly whispered.

Serene seemed nervous and quickly waved her hands. ''No, no, it's nothing about you Tyler, honestly, it's just that we are going to have to hold bigger auditions this year'' She said nervously. ''Why? what happened?'' Tyler asked and the group fell silent.

Dino was the one to talk. ''Bunch of cowards on the team got scared after last year's attacks and changed schools'' he said annoyed. ''What? them as well? how many ?!'' Tyler asked. 

''We are the whole team, Tyler... even our close friend Lindsay changed schools'' Serene said sadly and quickly assured Tyler ''Of course even with your heart break disease you are still on the team! we will wait until you can sing... but even if we count you, Christopher and us... the team will need at least seven more members to be able to participate on events'' she said. 

''I... I can't believe it, all the team left?'' Tyler said looking down, this was another thing he would regret, losing his team because of the attacks last year was another blow and another thing on the list of things he lost.

Dean placed a hand firmly on his shoulders and Tyler looked up to see at his smiling face. ''Don't worry, we will find those members, there is talent in this school we just have to look for it and auditions will be held in a couple of weeks so we have time.... Last time I failed you as captain but this time I will be sure to get us the victory, it's my last chance after all'' He grinned sure of himself.

It came down to Tyler then that it was Dean's sixth year at school, it was his last year as a student and then he would graduate, on his time as captain they only got one trophy as a state champion when they competed last year but this was his last chance to get the national title.

But unlike last year Dean seemed sure of himself this time. Before he seemed unsure of his place as captain and seemed to overthink his decisions but he seemed so sure they could do it that Tyler only had to smile and follow his mood. ''Yes!'' he said sure of himself as well.

...but the voice came back... it came back since a while ago but Tyler was trying to ignore it because unlike before when the voice was trying to attack other people and justify Tyler's anger, this time it seemed to be attacking Tyler.  
T̨h̯ị̴͓̯̘͍̼s ̸̝̤͈i̜̩̯̘͈͙s͢ ̸y̜͓͈͇̘o̮͔̳͇̬̫u͉͚̮̙̤̞̱r̷͈̫͔͔͕̝͍ ̸͉̗ͅf͇͓͟a̶̟u͚l̤̩̲ͅt͙̜͎  
̱͉̕y͏o̟̖͕̙̭̖u͍͉̩͡ ͏̬̮͎̯̰̘̺d͉͖̜o̥n̠͎'t͉̗͔̱͓̝͢ d̨͔e̤s͍͔̬͈͔͝ͅe̡̤͇͓r͉̹̺̖͖v̻e̗̳͙̜͝ ̮̹̱t͇͚̜̰̳ͅọ̼͈͚̱ ̘͙̜̺b̹̘͇̣̲e̵̯̭̻̣͚̪̞ o̞̭̟̘̞͎n͇͚̘̰͇ ҉͕̪̝͉̰t͡h̻͓̱̲e̯͉͕̬̹͢ ͉̥͙ţ͇̫̤̠̞̣e̲̗̯͎̹͎͓͞a̴̗̻ͅm͍̻  
̴̖͇ỵ̝̥̗̬̬o̳̻̼͢u͉̣̭͙̫ ̮̗̹̯w͞i̝̯̝̤̗͓͎̕l̠͔l̟̹̭ ̡̝͖̤̯̖͍̼l̝̕e̶t͈͡ ̯̲̜̼͍͎ͅt̸͓͓̟͉h҉e̝̬m̠ ̡d͚̥̖̟o̤͔͈̪̭w̭̹͍̘̬ņ̮  
̦̮̼̫̮͡y̼o̝̬̥͟u͇̱͍ ͔c̵a̳͎̯n̴͔̗̮͇'̼̙̻t͙̬͍̳ ̟̖͎͝ev͔̰̘̕e̠̮̼̝͢ͅn͠ ͍s̶i̼̫̥̰̠̻̭ng̬̹̗̠͍̥̳

..........  
It was late at night when a groaning sound woke up first year student Virgilio Mare.  
He jumped when he heard the sound and sat on his bed, quickly turned on a light and looked at his roomate rolling around bed, he was squirming and groaning in pain, his eyes shut close opened to show voids of blackness with tears running down them. 

Virgil quickly got up and went next to him to hold his hand, ''What do you need?'' he asked in a whisper, Dante rolled over and seemed to be in more pain but held Virgil's hand back. ''Dante, what do you need? you need to tell me so I can help'' he said and Dante groaned ''si͇͙͍͎͞ͅng͈̼͎̬̪͇'' he said, his voice in unison to several voices from the underworld. ''Sing!'' he pleaded now without the voices talking at the same time as him.

Virgil nodded, without letting go of his hand he stretched to get his phone from his pocket pack on his night stand and summoned his wand, he then summoned Lucia's spell to make the device work and searched for a song.

♦ Now playing: Waste by Foster the People

''I'll hold your hand when you are feeling mad at me. Yeah when the monsters they won't go and your windows don't close  
I'll pretend to see what you see. "How long?" I say, how long will you relive the things that are gone?. Oh yeah, The devil's on your back but I know you can shake him off''

Virgil sang softly and sweetly, he held Dante's hand as he squirmed around and tried to let go of his hand like it was on fire but Virgil kept holding him, he kept singing.

''And every day that you want to waste. That you want to waste, you can. And every day that you want to wake up. And you want to wake, you can. And every day that you want to change. That you want to change, yeah. I'll help you see it through. Cause I just really want to be with you''

Those last words were being sung honestly, his voice letting his feeling show and being transmitted, Dante would never hear those feelings, it's been a long time since he heard Virgil's feelings but Virgil was there, he was always there for him.

''You know it's funny how freedom can make us feel contained. Yeah when the muscles in our legs aren't used to all the walking. I know if you could snap both your fingers that you'd escape with me. But in the meantime, I'll just wait here and listen to you when you speak... or scream''

Virgil gently got on the bed and sat next to him he played with his brown locks a bit as Dante started to calm down, 

''And every day that you want to waste. That you want to waste, you can. And every day that you want to wake up. And you want to wake, you can. And every day that you want to change. That you want to change, yeah. I'll help you see it through. Cause I just really want to be with you''

He kept singing, the tears stopped streaming down Dante's face, his eyes were now returning to normal, Virgil kept the final notes of the song as Dante returned to normal and laid on the bed breathing heavily.

After a second, Dante slapped Virgil's hand from his hair, ''Thanks'' he said without much care on his voice but still breathing heavily. With some difficulty and not accepting any help from Virgil, Dante sat on the bed and with even more effort he got up.

He stumbled a couple steps forward then Virgil's voice stopped him. ''When are you going to let me in?'' he asked. ''What?'' Dante asked back harshly. 

''When are you going to let me in again? to your heart, to you... when is that going to happen?'' He asked, got up and stepped close to him and Dante pushed him. ''Don't fucking touch me, I don't know what you are talking about but I don't need you, all I need is for you to push me out of my cursed state and that is it'' Dante glared at Virgil. ''If what you want is the money, here'' Dante stumbled to his nightstand took some bills and threw them to the air towards Virgil who didn't move an inch. ''Service paid, thanks for waking me up, now leave my sight'' he said with venom.

''You love me'' Virgil said, no, he stated it like it was a fact and Dante got ballistic, with the little strength he had he pushed Virgil so hard that Virgil fell backwards to his bed. ''I ain't no fag!'' Dante yelled at him ready to throw a punch.

''Those words, those prejudices, they don't exist in this meta-world... we don't have to hide anymore'' Virgil said, he was hurt but he tried not to let it show on his face, no, he was not hurt physically but Dante's words hurt, they always hurt.

''I don't give a fuck, I'm normal, just stay the hell away from me!'' Dante yelled and walked towards the bathroom.

Virgil didn't cry, he wasted his tears before and exhausted them all, ever since they were young kids he'd been crying for Dante and he cried more when Dante got cursed way before they found out they were magical, now with his curses tormenting him, with his father and his pain Dante shut down and couldn't let anyone in, not even the person he used to swear he loved. But Virgil learned to be patient, he learned to wait, he learned that maybe forever he will have to wait for Dante.

Dante, his best friend, his beloved and a cursed kid.

.

Tyler was returning to his room after another failing experiment to trick the spider at the library, Winn came up with a series of devised with runes that could confuse a familiar but when they asked for the books on Elizabeth the Twisted the spider was so out of it that produced three books of cooking recipes of 'Erzbeth the witch that cooks with animal blood' and seventeen books of the thrilling saga 'Twisted tales of the pig tail pig by Bethany Bethers' Tyler got mildly interested on that story but his frustration prevented him from taking the books and starting a reading, he had more pressing matters at hand.

Then Winnifred came with the idea to use illusions to make Lucia look like Mrs. Monte Hallow who owned the spider as a familiar and make her request the books. It seemed like the spider did not fell for the trick and tied Lucia with it's webs and they spend the rest of the afternoon taking spiderwebs from the hair of a pretty traumatized Lucia

And now after a bath, Tyler was walking to his room where he found a note pasted to his door, he took the piece of parchment and read a single question. 'Help?' the text was on a handwriting he recognized and then it changed into a clock indicating the time of meeting and then the parchment lit itself on fire, Tyler let go of it quickly and the parchment turned into ashes. 

Tyler took a breath, the note was from Christopher, he had been thinking about speaking with him and he was going to do it but he was feeling frustrated after a day of failures but then he decided it was as good time as any and seeing as it was close to the time stated on the parchment he dragged his feet inside the room to get something comfortable to wear and then to the beach.

He used an excuse of a night walk with Alex and dressed on a simple short sleeved, white button up shirt, he didn't even cared to arrange it well and left some top buttons open and since it was a hot night he wore some black shorts and tennis shoes. 

He walked all the way to the beach, he saw Christopher looking at the stars and took a second to admire again the differences between people born in the magical world and the ones born on the mortal world. Even on a hot night sorcerers like Christopher dressed accordingly, Christopher was wearing a long sleeve black shirt but it seemed to be made of a fresh almost see-through soft material that flew with the wind, some dark pants that seemed to be as soft as the shirt and a cape with dark green stamps of leaves. 

He was looking at the heavens, his mess of curls running with the wind coming from the sea as the water reflected the stars on the sky. 

It was almost like the sight took Tyler's breath away for a moment and hypnotized him but then, regaining back his consciousness, he walked towards Christopher.

The soft steps on the ground got Christopher's attention and he turned to look at Tyler approaching, he felt how his heart rushed at the sight of him looking so casual on those clothes and his stomach flipped but as always he suppressed his feelings like they were a curse he was trying to revert.

''You came'' he said softly. ''I did'' Tyler responded as he sat on the big tree root in front of the one Christopher was sitting.

Tyler stopped talking to him just a little ago and Christopher was so angry because of it but now, Tyler only had to say two words to him and the anger seemed to go away.

''I figured... why you stopped talking to me, you wanted me to be kind to other irregulars'' Christopher stated not knowing really how to strike up a conversation with Tyler again.

''It's not only that, you know'' Tyler said, he played with some rocks under his shoes and he was not looking at Christopher. ''I've seen it, how you can be kind and caring, how good can you be, I would like you to show that to the whole world as well, that's the Christopher that I think can be friends with me and with everyone'' Tyler said looking up at him.

Christopher recalled then a conversation he had with Pamela the day Winn set up the deal with the king. Pamela was not speaking to him very much but when he called to her and they met alone on the greenhouse and she listened to him ramble she exchanged some words.

''That Winn, so quiet yet so sneaky, who would've thought'' she smirked. ''You are not helping, Pamela! the king wants to control who I marry again and that Winn is lying to him because he thinks I have something for Suarez, everyone thinks they know what I want or what I need but they don't!'' Christopher ranted pacing up and down the place.

''It's like they think I'm made of stone or something! a cold statue that they can move around to decorate the place as they please!'' he growled.

Pamela sighed, she seemed annoyed but understood his frustration. ''Listen, with Winn, I don't think he believes he can control you, it seems like he wants the bet for Suarez and he thinks that getting closer to you would make him happy'' Pamela said and that stopped Christopher's pacing. ''And the thing with the king... He doesn't know you, he may think you are made of stone but you are not, you are the fire that will lit your kingdom and bend them together, you are not a statue and not a toy, he doesn't know how good you are, how kind you can be... he doesn't know and nobody knows'' Pamela said those words and then got up to leave.

''What, you are done?'' Christopher asked. ''Yeah, I'm still mad, look for me when you get the stick up your ass removed'' she said going to the door and smirking ''You stuck up prince'' she said and she left.

Now that Tyler had said that he knew how kind he could be he recalled that conversation and he knew he and Pamela were right. The kind doesn't know him, he only wants him to be a puppet until it's time for him to rule but he had so many plans prepared for his future and being a puppet king was not on a single one of them.

''You mentioned in your note, that you needed help?'' Tyler said, it seemed like he wanted to leave behind their other conversation and Christopher was glad for it, he didn't want to expose any fake feelings to Tyler by agreeing to being kind.

''Yes! you know that auditions for the choir team are coming up and even when we already have our place on the team is tradition to audition once again just to show up your talent, I was wondering if you could help me with a song'' Christopher asked quickly going for his pocket pack and searching inside of it, soon he found what he wanted and with little difficulty he took out an entire guitar from the small leather pouch.

Tyler blinked a couple times and smiled a bit sadly at that. ''Christopher, I'm really happy that you are asking me but I can't help you sing... my heart break disease, remember?'' Tyler said, Christopher let out a small laugh. ''But you can listen, can't you? help me out a bit, let me sing to you'' He said with a look of fire in his eyes.

Tyler's heart skipped a beat, it was a familiar feeling he only reserved for his feelings for Alex but now he felt that beat with Christopher.  
But a shot of guilt stopped him from developing that feeling, he had feelings for Alex and that was it, he had no reason to start pinning for Christopher just because he was being nice now, besides Christopher was starting do develop a friendship with him and he didn't want to ruin anything with something silly as this weird heartbeat.

Tyler laughed. ''Alright, go ahead, how can I help?''

''you just have to listen, tell me if a mortal song fits me'' Christopher said taking the guitar on his arms. 

♦Now Playing: Pyro by Kings of Leon.

Christopher started playing the guitar, Tyler recognized the song but he never heard it without a band before. He started to sing then.

''A single book of matches gonna burn what's standing in the way'' he sang with his eyes closed, playing the strings of the guitar softly. ''Roaring down the mountain, they're calling on the fire brigade'' and it was like the moon wanted to listed to him sing because the clouds moved away and the light shined on his face. He opened his eyes and looked at Tyler ''Carry out the pictures and tell the kids that I'm okay. If I'm forgotten, you'll remember me for the day.'' he looked straight at Ty while the whole galaxy seemed to be reflected on his eyes.

''I won't ever be your cornerstone. I...'' The intensity of his eyes, the galaxy painted there, it made Tyler never want to look away. ''All the black inside me is slowly seeping from the bone... ''Everything I cherish is slowly dying or it's gone.'' there was a sadness there, something Tyler wanted to figure out, something that he couldn't look away from. ''Little shaking babies and drunkards seem to all agree, Once the show gets started it's bound to be a sight to see.''

Suddenly something grew inside Ty, he wanted to sing with him, he wanted to accompany the sadness on his voice. ''I won't ever be your cornerstone. I don't want to be here holding on. I won't ever be your cornerstone. I...'' Christopher sang and Tyler tried to join him but when he opened his mouth... nothing came out. 

His voice choke out and he felt a single tear nearing the corner of his eye, he couldn't sing, he couldn't accompany Christopher's sadness and try to make him smile... something that made him feel special like making people smile was gone.

A hand took away that tear, Tyler looked at Christopher taking away his tears with his fingers and then he sang for Ty ''Watch her run, can you feel it? Watch her run, can you feel it?'' and it was like a whole band appeared out of nowhere and joined Christopher's guitar, the silence was non-existence now and Christopher smiled a smile that Ty had never seen before and went back to playing ''Watch her run, can you feel it? Watch her run, can you feel it?''

The music flew, the galaxies stood in place on his eyes, the sadness on his voice filled the air with so many things Tyler was mesmerized. '' I won't ever be your cornerstone. I don't want to be here holding on. I won't ever be your cornerstone. I...''  
He finished, the sound of the waves on the sea came back like nothing happened along with the sound of the insects on the grass and a lonely hot night.

''That was beautiful'' Tyler said, there were no more tears on his eyes but he still felt sad... ''You will sing again'' Christopher said like he was reading his mind. ''Just think that your parents will be back, believe that and the heart break disease won't stand a chance against you'' He said.

Tyler then did something that Christopher couldn't calculate. Tyler sat next to him and leaned his head on his shoulder, Ty sighed and closed his eyes feeling comfortable, he felt safe. ''Thank you, sorry I stopped talking to you'' 

''Y-yeah, don't worry about it...''

They sat in silence, the soft crashing of the waves was the only thing hiding the beating of both hearts...

It finally came down to Christopher... 'ah, I really do like him, don't I?' he thought and after that another thought came 'Pamela is going to love this' he laughed to himself and slowly leaned his head on top of Tyler's

There were forces pulling them together, it happened since the first day, some kind of magnetic energy but... when you are both magnets the forces are bound to get separated. 

Just the same, when these two get closer, things were bound to pull them apart.  
.

The first year class of 'Curses and How to Break Them' was packed with students learning the different kinds of curses, the teacher Romario Romero asked the different kinds of curses and several students raised their hands. He gave the first answer to Vice. ''Curses are classified on reversible, irreversible, breakable, unbreakable, poisonous and infectious'' she answered, the teacher nodded. ''Very well, now who can give me the differences between reversible and irreversible?''

A bunch of hands were raised. ''Grace'' said the teacher and she got up from her seat. ''Reversible and Irreversible curses affect the body directly, reversible curses have cure like a curse that makes you have zits all over your body but can be cured with a few items or potions, they can be reversed permanently or temporarily. Irreversible curses have no cure, they stay on the body like a curse that makes you miss a limb, those can't be reversed'' she answered.

''Good! now class, who can give me an example of a breakable and unbreakable curses'' The teacher asked but this time he gave the opportunity to answer to a sorceress who getting up shot a nasty sight to the corner of the class where all the irregulars were sitting together. ''Breakable and Unbreakable curses affect the mind and soul, they can eat it and rot it away or control it and make someone do things against their will, breakable curses can be easily cured but unbreakable curses stay permanently on the mind, like a root that was set in your brain'' she explained and sat down.

''Perfect! now for the final one, Poisonous and Infectious, go ahead Mr. Mare'' the teacher said and Virgilio got up from his seat, ''Poisonous and Infectious curses can affect body, mind and soul, poisonous curses eat you alive, they have no cure, they will destroy you slowly, it takes a great deal of skill and black magic to curse someone like that, and Infectious curses have the same effect but they are more aggressive and fast, they are also contagious and can affect people and objects around someone'' He took a sigh. ''None of those... can be cured'' he looked down at that moment. 

''Good, very good, now class, we are running out of time so let's wrap up for now, next class I need you to give me a report of what we spoke in class'' he said as the class started to gather their things.

.

i̳̯̘̠͖̒̇f̧ͫ͗ͫ̒ ͯy̤̜̮̭̙ͪͮͅọ̸̲̜̹͙̼̿ͬͭụ̅ͦ͆͆̓̋ ̮̖̰ͨ͂̋̅ṭ̗̪͓̞̤̝̂̌h̨̥͙̪͍̖͂ͫ̐̿̽i͚͙̘̟͔ͬͭ͘ń̠͔̺͓k̇͐̽̈ ̨̼̗a̭̖͕͙͠b̦͎̪̥̺͓̯̾ͤ̈́̎̆ͯ̐o̥̤͕͔̺ͪͭ̎̾̎͌͜ü̦̫̦̗̤̓ẗ̼̜͂ͧ ͔̤͍͎͒i̠̿ͨͯͭ̌̔ṭͅ ̢̪͙̭ͨ̎̄̾ͫ̏͋i͎̞̇̏͌̚͢ș̶͊̓ͦ̒ ̺͙̫͚̖̩̱̋ͣ̿̀y͙̣̼͎̦̭ͅo̺͔̭ű̝̲̯̿ͣͯͥ̋ͧͅr̭̝͚̦͊͂̓ ̫̝͓̪f̶͙̜͉̰̦̦͌̃̎̿̊ͯa̠̳͉͇̐͛ul̊̾ͦͮt̆̌̚  
̝̲ͬ͒͛ͩ͂y͉̟̖̿̃̉ͣ̆̑o͆̉̎̚͘u̩͇ ̣̼͗͂͜l͇̺̜̩̯̣ͮ̋ͬͮ̍ͨͫe̖̟̝͙̬̳͚̔ͧ̔f̷̭̬̹ͦͦ̍̑t͓̩͛͋ͤ̾̈͆ ̔ͦ̿̔̋t̟̩̰̰̲̱͠h̗̫͉̣̼̣̪̋̈̍ḙ͖͔̜̙̙̂ͦ̇̅ͅm̪͕͈ ̤̩̤͚̻̽̏̏ͬ̚̕ṭ͉̳̱̓h̯̳̬̟͔̱̲̍ͦͩͬ̄e̘͗̉ͭr̸̳̪̮͂̓ͪ̊̽ẽ̟̬͗ͧ̓ͮ̽͢  
̆̔y͖͍͓̰̯̒͐̊̍̉͑̚o̖ͨ̆͒̓̋̈u̟̮̩̝̻̣͗ͪͭ̆͂ ̵̜̺̯͉̱ͅl̜͈̪͒͂͛̌͗͛ͪe̹͓f̛̜t̩̭̫͂̎͗ ̵̪͚̰̹̱̦̲́ͪ̓̌ẘ̻̱̬͉̮̐ͯ̂i̫̺͙͓̝͕͖͐ͫͦͯͫ͌ͣẗ̵ͪh̜̹̮̟͌͛̍ͥ͢ ̣͖ͣͮ̓͠ȳ̯͇̤̪̟̦̉o̢̜͕ͫu̯̫̙̠͉͋͐͗r̝̜̭̫ͯͬ ̈́̏̈́͏f̏ͩͬ̔ȑ̸̺̞̙̗̟̹̄͑̅͑̋ͅi͎͇̫̰̎ͣ͐ͯ̒̿ͅe̸͆ͩ͒ͪn̆̓͛̒̚҉̫͇d͌ͧ҉̗s͔̬̼̒̓͘ ͎̰̠͙̟͖ͦ̑ͬ͝å͂ͨ҉̗̬̜ņ͇̭̠̳̑́d̷̪̫͑͗ͩ̍ ̭͚̰͞ỷ̧̗͓̙̈́̃ͣͩo͍͎̾̽͋̏̚u͉̘̾̊̇r̭͕̗̰̔ ̠̎̈́͛ͧp͙̺̓̿̋̏ͥa̠̪̰͓͙̞̯ͦͫͪ͝r̫̹̜̣̻̉͆̔̄̏e̹̬̬͖ͣn̷̲͍̻̩̦̻͆ͧ͗ẗ́̚s̠͍̝͍̐͂ͬ͛̀͞ ̲͎̘̈ͩͤͪ̃̑̉ͅw̛̖̬̣͎̯͉͊̍̄ͮ͆̃ͬe̦̹͒̓̋̉̌r̙̲͔̪̊ͭͬe͉ͯ̑͛̇ ̻̹͖̟͖̞͙̿ã̟̼͓͖̬͓̌l̦̙̗̿͐̍ͥͧ̏̾o̲͗ͫ̾n̷͆̍̆̀͒̊e̜͖ͦͧ̎̉̚ͅ  
͈͙̬͇̤̯̓͊ͤ͘t̤̲͙ͯͬ̌ͬh̳̞̺̦͒͆ͫ͒̆͢e̶̯̰͎͔͍͍̼̿ ̷̹ī̮͓͙̋̎͂ͣͧr̳̣͙ͩͤ̐ͨŗ͙̹̤̉̄̾̚̚e̼̝͈̤͎̠͖ͮͦ̎͜g͙̥͚͕͋ͨ͂̍̃ͅu̲̘̪͉̣̻̜l̢̙̑ͩ̏̂a̞͇̺̣̙̎̆͑r̰̯͍̹̻s̝̳̣̬̹͎ͤ̔ͨ̓͐̿̌ ̲͍̹̖̪͆ͥͤt̟̫̲̜̂ͥͬͪ̊h̖ͪa͍̪̻͚̍ͥt̲͎̻̰ ̶̰̺͎̹̩ͩ̈́w͈͎̥̤͈̪̲̋ͤͤ͝ȇ҉͉̘̮r̻̹̘̬ͯ͒ͩ̍ͨ̈́ͦe̠ͣ̌̂ͩ ̻̫ͣ͛́ͨ̇̽̚ț̙̥͓͛͋ͮ̃̚a̗̱̽̽͂ͣ̔͘k̳̗̺͚̺͕̈́̑͗̄ͤ̽͆͞ȩ͉ͫ̇́̓ͮ̔n̐̂͐ͭ̾͢ ̴̺̦tͧͩh̒̐ͧä̠̥͚ͦ̕tͬͭͥ ̱̭͉̘͖̗ͣͅïŝ̢͔̳̥̇ͣ̔̚ ̱̇͒͂̄̔́y̛̟̤̦̳̝̾̑ͨ̉͐̃ͧo̼̞̗̯̤u̼͉ͧ̏͗͑̑̓r͚͖̺̯͉͆̃̇ ̍̄͂̂f͈̤̞̍̋̌ͪ̍̚ͅả̜̖̜̖̙͍͙̒̎̆̈ͧͫul͛͂̒͝t̪̑̋̍̑̔̐̈͞ ̤̰͖̀͡a͂ṣ̛̬͖̒͊̎̒ͪ̓ ̰̥ͦͩẇ̢͑ͨ͒̽̈e͕̪͕̺l̇ͥ̈̓l͙͇̻̉ͅ  
̙͓̥̬̞̳̻͐ͭ̇̆y̛̘͙o̙̼͍̫̼̞̖ͪũ̮̼̥̦̫͖̬̇ͪ͒͋͢ ͬͤ͂̐̂͒͏c̺͉̫̺͑̇̋̒̽͡o̪͙̩͇̿ͩͮ̐͗̃u̷̲͔̫͉̯͖ͮ̅́l̘̭̦̤̳̫͘ͅd̴̠̖̖͚̦ͤ̓͋͊͒̿ͪn̤̮̘̓̾͂'̢͑͋͂̚t̀͛͒̏̉ͤͥ͏ ̣͕̥̣̜̿̇ͧ̔̍ͧs̻̬̫̗̣͌̓avͯ̓ͭ̒͊ͪe̳̺̻͖̎ ̜̰͋ͨ̓a̝͎̩̰͕̲̽̅͗͂ņͣͩ̀ͥÿ̲̜̞o̴͑͛̋ͤn̶̘̟̄̋̎̏ͥe͎̅͂ ̱̟̟̼̊̉ͫ̍̃̉͋t̖͙͔͑̽͠h̵̭̫͎̫͙̔ͧ̊ͣͯ̋ä̟̤͍̗̤̜̻̈́̓̚ẗ͚̗̠͔̜́̂̀ͩ͡ ̺̠̳̙̘̉ͭ̽̇̋d͎̯͈á̙̭͍̻ͤ̋́̀̕y̶͕̭͎̲̱̒ͤ̍͐̐ͫͧ ̘̼̜͙͚̮̇ͯͤ̄̈͂͡ä̋̋́̽n͉̣̠͖͇̎͆ͨͦͪ̚d̯̞̥͓̲͖̹̐ͫ͑ ̛̼͉̤̬̖̯͖ͭ͆͌͋ͣ͂̌t̬͎̤͎̤̦̑hͭͣͬ͐͠e͌ͬ͐͊̏̂҉y̦͓̪͇̟̰̻͊ ͉̘͐̌ͪͦͦ̒ͤt̨͉̤̳̍͌̋ͨo̵͊̄ơ̦̘̑ͧ̉ͅk͔ͬ ̝͉͚̻͈̮͔t̝͑ͦ͛ͬͧhͮ̏ͪ̏̀e͂ͮ̔͑͌m̥̭̩̿̒̕ͅ  
̷̥̳̙͕̰̲̍͊y̷͉̙̘̹̘̳͖͑̈́̐ó̠͔̑̎̀u͈̯̟͓̒̎̆ ̘͚̓́̀̋w̼͈͔͉͎̠̰ͪͯ̔͞ḭ̵̙͓͉ͅl̠͙̲̗̈́̎̋̽͝l̡̰͖͂͋͛̊̆ ͉̣̟͕̣̼̠͐ͭ͟n̨̯̥̺ͭ̾̀̆ͅe͉̦̰̮͔ͨ̓̓̂͆͠v͙̤̥͖͌ͅẽ̴͍̍͑̈̃r̙̳͎͖̒ͨ̏̾̓̿̚ ̳̦͒͌̈́̈̌̉̽͝ḃ̥͚̣̭̣͡ȇ̜̙͘ ̻̩̤ͭ͑̉ͤ̿͂̾͜w̼̗̦̝o͛̈̉̉r͓͇̙ṯ̭̜̖ͭͯ̍h͉̦̻ ͥͣ҉̼̹̳͉͉͎̳a͇͈̦̘͇̗͞n̦͍ͪ̆̈́̓ͥ̂ͅy҉ẗ̤͓̤͆ͭ̄h̶̭̠͖̾̃ͣͨͭ̑i̜͗̂̋̐͒ͭ̋n̟̯͓͓̭̓̅̑̉g͇̈́̓ͅ  
̟̣͕̞̱

Ty woke up suddenly, breathing heavily and sweat all over his body, he looked around and noticed he was under an oak tree with the rest of the squad napping. He sat trying to calm himself down and recovered a book that was next to Alex sleeping face.

They were trying to come up with new ways of tricking the spider into giving them the information but they were running short of ideas, he didn't knew when he fell asleep but he could remember the unpleasant dream he just had, a dark voice telling him things, dark things, reminding him of his past sins, of his regrets.... he felt like he was going crazy.

He tried to calm down, his stomach was turning around with several ugly feelings and he tried to breathe, one... two...three, then again he tried again. one..two..three. the repeated the process over and over until he was finally able to calm down...

Feeling more tired than ever he tried to read some words, trying to find a spell or a potion, something that could help him and then a butterfly caught his attention. 

The blue and black thing floated with the wind in front of him and then rested on the book...

c̏̆͒͠l̰̃̅o͚̬̝̲ͪ̉ͫ͠s̤̼̩̯ͬ̊e̥͞ ̍̿̋t̡͓͍͚͖̟̱h̸ͪ͛̇ͨe̖̝̦͉̊̆ ̗̞̩̲̮̎͋̐̅̚͟b̩͌͑̈ͤö͢ͅo̶̖͐ͫ͋̾̅͊̓k͔͓̲͇̻͌̍

The voice told him to do something awful, Tyler placed his hands on the cover of the book but before he could smash the book close another butterfly came around.

k̶͓͗̉͊̌ͨ̚ḭ͔͇̱͎̪̀l͓͍̭̭̳͛̃̈́l̟͈̾̌ ͙̥̜̗̟̲̥ț̟̺͚̟̻͊ͯͣͅh̟͖͔̮̥͛ͭ̂̊ͤ̽ͩe̝̙ͧ̄̇͞m̺̟̤͂ ̴̮̥̣̓̍ͫb̗̲̝͉͈ͭͣ̽͐ͭͣo̵͚̰͍̮̭ͅͅt̲͕̿̂͛̏̎h̬̞͉͔̠̖̓ͬͬ̇ͧ

The voice ordered this time, the voice didn't ask, didn't suggest anything, it only ordered and Tyler had the urge to close the book and kill both creatures but he didn't because another came around. He looked at the creatures and the calm moving of their wings... calmed him down.

Tyler let go of the book cover and observed the little things that moved around the book, he smiled feeling the voice disappear, for a second, even though he couldn't sing, Tyler was able to hum a tune and the soft sound of his voice filled the silence around them, a breeze flew by and with it a small yellow bird came, Tyler kept humming and another came by and then another and soon a small flock of colorful birds surrounded him singing along with the notes of his humming song.

When he felt like he was finished he looked at the animals around him and they seemed to bow and flew away, and all the butterflies flew with the birds and then everything was quiet again.

But then Alex's voice came by. ''Ty?'' he asked softly, Tyler jumped a bit, startled by the voice, he looked at his side and saw his friend's smiling and pleasant face peaking under his straw hat. ''S-sorry, did I woke you up?'' Tyler whispered back. Alex denied with his head ''It's alright, it was nice seeing you so happy for a change'' he grinned.

Ty's face got red, Alex sat slowly on the grass and stretched his limbs. ''You seem to have a talent with animals'' he mentioned, Tyler thought for a moment and agreed to it ''Yes, they seem to like me a lot, before I realized I was magical birds used to follow me around, as well as dogs, cats and even fishes came around me whenever I was by the sea with Husky'' he said.

Alex let out a low hum like he was thinking of something and then he snapped his fingers. ''That's it! why don't we try that?'' he said, Tyler looked at him out of the loop and Alex got really close to his face. ''Just talk to the spider! you seem to have a talent with animals so why don't you just talk to it and convince it to give us the books?'' he suggested. 

Tyler backed down quickly, tried to calm his heart and for a moment thought about it. ''Well, we tried a lot of things until now so why don't we try this one as well?'' he agreed.

''Ah no more pancakes!'' yelled Lucia sitting up awake, she looked around all lost, the Luciferus cousins also got up at the yell and looked at her. ''Sorry, bad breakfast dream'' she said grinning, both Tyler and Alex laughed after a second, Winnifred yawned still not completely awake and Winn laid again on the grass like a doll and in a second fell asleep once again.

.

''Are we certain this will work?'' Winn asked as they walked to the library together. ''No, but it's worth a try, we've seen Tyler tame animals before'' Alex said.  
''Yes! remember the Alicanto last year? he sang to it when it went out of control and it calmed down right away'' Lucia mentioned reminding everyone to the incident last term when the Alicanto at the barn went out of control and Tyler sang to calm it down.

''But Tyler can't sing'' Winnifred reminded them as well. ''Well, yeah! but he can talk to it or hum a tune, I know he can make it work'' Alex said patting Tyler's back. 

In all honesty, Tyler didn't knew if it was going to work but he just kind of wanted to go along with what Alex was saying, he seemed to be sure it would work and it made him feel sure of it as well or maybe it was just his crush making him go along with whatever Alex would say.

Either way they made it to the library, they walked to desk where the spider was there waiting patiently to any students, it looked with their eight eyes to the squad and hissed a bit when it looked at Lucia who quickly hid behind Alex. ''Hey, hey, come on now, we are not here to trick you'' Alex tried to reason with the spider but it seemed to remember that they tried to trick it before by making Lucia look like Mrs. Hallow.

The spider didn't seem happy at all ad it hissed to Alex as well and moved it's pincers around. Tyler smiled nervously and looked at his friends. ''Let me try'' he whispered and came close to the desk.

''Hey little one, sorry we are here to bother you again'' he said and the spider was still looking mad but now it only paid attention to Tyler. ''Listen, I'm sorry about last time, we made our friend look like your master but it's because we needed the information, it won't happen again I promise'' Tyler reasoned with it and the pincers stopped moving. ''And I know it must be hard to be here all by yourself all day, missing her...must be lonely'' he said and the spider seemed to look a tad down. 

Tyler quickly started to look for something on his pockets. ''Well I might have something to cheer you up'' he said and took out a small bag. ''I was reading about things spiders might like and I brought a few things, you tell me which ones you like and which ones you don't'' Tyler said and the spider looked curiously at the bag, Tyler placed the bag on the table and carefully took out the first item. ''So! this are some dried up flies, you like?'' he asked showing the spider a few flies on his open palm, the spider came close to them but retreated soon after.

''So that's a no, I see, well what about this!'' Tyler then took out a dead centipede they found on the floor of the greenhouse, the spider seemed more interested now, inspected it but then retreated. ''No, hmm, a little bit picky aren't we?'' Tyler joked with it and the spider seemed amused at the comment. ''No fear, I have another treat!'' he said and quickly took out a long lizard tail that the squad took from the potion's classroom.

The spider looked at the tail, it's eyes seemed to shine for a while and slowly came close to Tyler's hand. ''So this is the one'' He said and he placed the tail on the table, the spider quickly launched at it and pierced it's pincers on it, soon it started to take a few bites. Tyler grinned and without much care used his index finger to caress the back of the spider's thorax. It reacted keeping still for a bit but then went back to finishing the tail. ''That's a good spider! you've been lonely here right? I'm sorry I didn't noticed earlier'' Tyler said as the spider seemed to enjoy the gentle caress of Ty's finger.

Tyler thought for a second and then it came to him that they also didn't knew an important detail. ''Now that I think about it, we just call you 'the spider at the library' but we don't know your name, what is it?'' Tyler asked and retired his finger, the spider looked at him for a second and turned around, jumped from the desk and went to a cabinet where it retrieved a small golden plate and brought it to Tyler. 

The golden plate said 'Rosie' on it, ''Rosie! that's a pretty name, nice to finally put a name to your face, Rosie'' he grinned and Rosie seemed pleased with it.

Tyler sighed and his smile fell a bit, ''Listen Rosie, I did apologized for what happened last time but the truth is that we really need help finding the unedited information of Elizabeth the Twisted... I don't know if you heard about this but... my parents are missing, we believe this can lead us to where they are... I also have been lonely'' Tyler said as Rosie only stared at him. ''And I miss them, a lot... Please if you could help us just this once...'' Tyler almost jumped back when the spider shoot a big web to the ceiling and disappeared behind a tall chandelier hanging from there.

Tyler sighed defeated he turned to his friends smiling with apology. ''I guess I messed it up'' he said, Lucia was about to say something back when she pointed behind Tyler and he turned to see the spider with seven big books with a black cover with several symbols written on them. Tyler looked at Rosie with surprise. ''A-are those...?'' he asked Rosie pushed the books towards him, Tyler took them and smiled to Rosie. ''Thanks a lot Rosie, I won't forget this as long as I live'' he said and slowly pressed his forehead with Rosie's face and the big spider closed her eyes looking pleased.

He took the books and turned to his friends they all cheered and went to tackle him to the ground. ''Off, guys get off! I can't breathe'' Tyler complained but he was laughing.

Finally they had a lead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping the next one will be as fast as this one I left this one hanging... nvm I always leave these hanging!
> 
> let's hang out some other time! have a great day guys!


	8. Chapter 8: The Twisted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kay then! another new chapter in a short amount of time?! what is this?!  
> but I still have little work right now so I have the time to write and update a little bit more! I hope you enjoy this, things are moving a bit!

Winn started to read the words from the one of the books they got from Rosie, the book was titled 'Darkest Witches and Sorcerers Through History' the author was erased.

''Before she was known as Elizabeth, the woman who grew up to be known as 'the twisted' was called Eli, nothing is known about her parents as she grew up on an unknown orphanage on the mortal world where since young signs of her magical nature were shown to the world, after the senate located her and placed her on the meta-world she started her studies as a boarding student at Diaz' School For Witchcraft, and during her stay she collected several prizes on potions and cursing competitions on national levels, on her fourth year she started a plead with the senate to find out more about her lineage and after the proper tests and investigations it was found that Eli, long believed to be an irregular, belonged to the Thorn family one of the oldest families on the magical world''

''The Thorn family who was about to disappear having no more heirs after the great pink fever of 19XX took her in and raised her until her graduation day, after that Eli found a job at the 'Center of Magical Investigation and Experimental Work' on Antique City where her investigations on...'' Suddenly Winn was quiet and he seemed uncomfortable. 

''Winn?'' asked Tyler at seeing him on that state, Winn seemed to wake up for whatever trance he was and kept reading. ''...her investigations on human disease, death and resuscitation'' Winn said and a shiver went through the table. ''Eli who legally changed her name to Elizabeth Thorn started investigations on both mortal and magical diseases and developed several serums for the diseases that affected both kinds, on 19xx was awarded with the Merlina Oz award for their discoveries on the different kinds of bacteria that affected both mortal and magical people. During this time she kept her investigation on resurrection a secret and it was only a year after being awarded when the first incident happened''

Winn turned the page and kept reading out loud. 

''During one of the parades from the 'Association Against Irregulars' where they captured an irregular criminal and parade him around town with shackles, Elizabeth who was known as an irregular sympathizer stood in front of the parade and demanded the man to be freed soon other sympathizer's of both irregular and magic-born origins stood with her and a riot took place. It is unknown who shot the curse who ended up killing the criminal and how, after the riot, Elizabeth was able to get her hands on the body but this became the first person whom she managed to...resurrect...''

They all knew, it was basic knowledge that human resurrection was out of bounds for magicals, it was both impossible and illegal to try to perform such acts and it was considered a sin against magical nature to try to bring the dead back to life.

''Days after the riot the same irregular who was killed was seen walking around town as a free and very alive man, immediately got the attention of the officers who took him back to imprisonment and after seven days of questioning it became apparent that the man was not going to reveal the person responsible to bring him back to life, the irregular was then sentenced to death and killed by the senate''

''After an investigation led by the senate they were able to track the first sights of the man and it led them to the 'Center of Magical Investigation and Experimental Work' and directly to her laboratory. With an order to apprehend Elizabeth and confiscate all of her work, the officers marched towards the lab but Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen, they found her investigation and they found that she had been working in secret with the...the corpses of the family that adopted her, notes detailing how spells would work on their bodies and the decomposition, re-construction and mutation of the corpses were found and a terrorized senate along with the whole ministry of magical affairs decided to classify what they could and destroy the rest of the investigation''

''Hours after this incident Elizabeth broke into the offices of the senate with an army of skeletons''

Winn took a deep breath trying to calm himself from the horrible piece of magical history he was reading.

''Elizabeth had done what no other person had ever done, she resurrected an entire army that lacked in muscles, nerves and organs, the skeletons followed a seemingly mad woman who, like them, lacked life in her eyes. Elizabeth led the army through the halls of the senate....killing anyone who dared crossing her way and announced to the senate that a new era was to arrive, she 'proposed' to the senate to join her into a new era where nobody had to die, where she could resurrect anyone not matter how long they'd been dead and together -with enough investigation- they could lead a new race of magicals that had no diseases and even proposed pass the notice to the mortal world, let themselves finally been known to the mortals and work together into a new era of magicals and non-magical people who would never die from any disease'' 

Tyler didn't knew where his breath started to get rapid, he didn't want to hear the rest of the story anymore, what they were saying was completely crazy, of course people not dying would be something incredible but it wouldn't be natural, all things in this world come to an end and that includes people, not dying would destroy the natural order of things...

''The senate was furious, they confronted Elizabeth back saying that it was a forbidden practice and that mortals must never know the existence of magicals, it was after all, our most sacred laws. Elizabeth knew even with an army this would be a difficult fight to win so she ordered them to attack as she walked away. Three members of the senate lost their lives that day''

Winn then started to tell the story of the Dark War, a war that was carried a long time ago that people don't mention anymore, Elizabeth who started to be known among the public as 'The Twisted' wanted to be proclaimed the leader of the magical world, she raised armies of dead and soon even the living who shared her beliefs joined her searching for what she called 'an era without dying' hordes of irregulars joined her searching to be freed from the awful treatments they endured as well and the war lasted seven long years.

''Elizabeth met her end one fateful night on October 22 of 19XX, after her army was burnt to a crisp and was unable to get up again she fled to Seagull City on the mortal plane where she got ambushed by a small group of soldiers led by...''

Winn looked up at Tyler with an odd stare. ''W-what? who led the ambush?'' Tyler asked.

Winn looked back to the book. ''Led by the irregular wizard Roberto Suarez...'' Winn read and it was a bucket of cold water dropped on Tyler's head. His great grandfather, the man who a lot of people around said was a great wizard who did great things and became respected despite being an irregular himself... confronted such a dark witch.

''A great battle started where both soldiers and officers tried hard to keep defenses up so the mortals wouldn't notice, Mr. Roberto Suarez, stripped from his wand managed to perform a heart stopping spell with his hands and killed the great dark witch Elizabeth the Twisted. After the incident all of the remaining armies of dead fell to the ground and turned into dust. Elizabeth was buried on an unknown location protected by unbreakable spells and curses, during the investigation on her belongings two things were found that led to the method she used to revive her minions. A spell that included three forbidden elements to work and the tool she used to perform the resurrection, a wand made from the root of a Ceiba tree, platinum and an unicorn horn, the combination of elements brought the ability to perform great feats of dark magic to the holder and in so it made Elizabeth resuscitate her armies''

Winn turned to the last page and read the last part of the history. ''Several failed attempts to destroy the wand which they called the 'black unicorn wand' and this brought the senate to the decision to hide it as well and the location is currently unknown. Not much is known about Eli's motives to turn to the dark side or how she managed to attract so much people under her beliefs but her followers along with any sympathizers were brought to justice and after months of trials they were sent to prison and a decree to hide all details of her experiments or the destruction it brought was signed by the whole senate the ministry of magic along with many officials and respected members of the magical community. Her story was to be kept on the same shadows her darkness came from''

Winn finished the text but kept staring at the page for a while like he was on a trance, he raised his sight to the group and the whole squad seemed to be lost in thought, for a while nobody said anything until Alex broke the silence. ''So, what does it mean?'' Alex said and the squad looked at him waiting for him to explain the question further. ''I mean, what does she have to do with the rioters two years ago? what's the connection, did we learnt something from this at all?'' he asked.

''That she was a psycho'' said Winnifred but leaned back on the chair. ''I don't know..I mean she had irregular followers but I don't know what does that connect to the things that are happening now'' she said.

''So, we were wrong on following this? I mean if there is no connection...'' Winn said but Lucia quickly denied with her head. ''No, there must be something I can also feel it, maybe some connection to the jailed irregulars and the rioters or perhaps something else'' she said thinking hard.

''...My great grandfather killed her...'' Tyler said looking puzzled. ''I kept hearing stories about him, about things he did but I didn't knew this, nobody mentioned that he killed an evil witch'' Tyler said.

''Must be because of the decree, they were probably forbidden to say anything'' Winn mentioned. ''Yeah... but I still feel like there is something, I mean she was an irregular sympathizer but I don't know how that...'' Tyler stopped mid sentence and leaned forward on his chair when an idea came to him.

''What?'' Asked Lucia. ''Y-you don't think they are trying to find her investigation, do you?'' Tyler asked with a tremble on his voice. ''Wait, no, if they find the investigation they...'' Alex started no wanting to finish the sentence. ''They will be able to raise an army of dead people like she did'' Lucia said looking shaken.

''Wait, let's think about this, the book said that they needed a spell she always carried to perform such acts and the black unicorn wand as well, and they were hidden without any registration'' Winn tried to reason, perhaps because he didn't want this theory to be right as well.

''...The portrait'' said Winnifred. ''When they attacked last year and found us on that hall they took something right? maybe it was the spell or the wand or something that would lead them to those elements'' she said.

''We need to see it! if one of those things was there then we might be right!'' Alex said getting up and the rest did the same. 

''Wait! wait for a second'' Winn said raising his voice more than they heard him before. ''Just wait, we need to be careful, if this is right then we are going to step into a more dangerous territory, it's not going to be about Tyler's parents anymore or the students and the riots... if they want to revive the dead then this might bring on another dark war'' Winn said.

''Then that's why we must hurry! there is no time to waste now'' Alex said but Winn raised his hands ''Let's calm down first, we will go to the portrait but if I remember correctly it has runes around the frame, let's not touch it, write about the runes and investigate them a bit, that might be the spell protecting whatever it was there and we can't get harmed if we do the wrong thing and just rip open the portrait to find some clue that might not be there'' Winn said, the squad seemed to calm down.

Winn was right on both things, one, if they go to the portrait and they touch it they might mess up something or get hurt if the protection of the portrait is some kind of curse. Second... if this theory was right then things will be bigger, if they don't find Tyler's parents, the students and the rioters and they manage to resuscitate the dead they might have a war on their hands.

Tyler thought for a bit, for a moment he wanted to go to the officers with this information but something else was telling him that they might not believe a word and even if they do they might not find the rioters or his parents, no... he had to be careful, he had to keep this hidden, he could not trust people who won't even face him and tell them what they know about the investigation or even if they are doing a good job investigating his parent's disappearance.

But still... they whole squad had to be on board with this. ''Guys... I still don't trust the officers, but if you think we must bring this theory to them...'' Tyler suggested. Winn who was usually the one to follow the rules denied with his head. ''Even if we go right now, this is just a theory and they might not believe us''

''Besides, we found this ourselves, if they are not even able to find a lead like this being 'professionals' we might have a bigger chance of finding the truth ourselves'' Said Alex.

''For now, let's keep quiet'' Lucia agreed to them. ''Yeah, besides if we don't find anything we don't want to raise any suspicion to us, right now we have an element of surprise, nobody expects a group of kids to find information about any of this, we can use it to our advantage'' said Winnifred and the rest nodded in agreement.

''And we have extra curricular's and then exams coming up'' Said Winn and the rest rolled their eyes. ''What?! is true! I mean Winnifred said so herself, if we want to keep this element of surprise we will need to going to classes like nothing is happening, keep our grades up and the teachers pleased, let's not raise any suspicion, we are even breaking the law right now reading information about Elizabeth the Twisted when there is a whole decree against it'' Winn said and the rest seemed defeated and tired.

''For now... let's retreat, let's hide these books for later and we will see the portrait tomorrow'' Lucia suggested, the squad seemed tired and beat, they agreed to the idea. ''If nothing has happen until now we might still have time. Let's keep calm and let's investigate later'' Winnifred agreed to the idea.

The squad hid the books on lower shelves and buried them with papers and random old scrolls that were laying around. They got ready to leave when a big booming sound came from a few rows of books away from them, a big shadow figure floated towards the ceiling and then fell behind those rows and the next second from behind the rows a body fell.

''V-Virgil?!'' Yelled Tyler running to the boy laying on the ground, the rest quickly ran behind him. Tyler kneel next to him and quickly grabbed his face. His eyes looked lost looking at nothing and filled with some kind of black substance, his body was limp so Tyler quickly got his ear close to his chest and then his nose. ''He is breathing'' He announced with a sigh of relief but there was something definitely wrong with him.

Winn quickly scanned the floor and looked at an open book by Virgil's feet, the thing was oozing some kind of black substance leaking through the pages. ''The book!'' he said and Winnifred quickly kicked it away, the book flied to the wall, let out a screaming sound and fell closed to the ground. 

''We need to take him to the infirmary, quick!'' Lucia said getting close as well, she checked his temperature and it seemed normal, she checked his mouth and there was nothing there, he was just out of it. ''Got it, Rosie!'' Tyler called and in a few seconds the spider appeared hanging from a web on the ceiling. ''Please get help and send them to the library, we think this boy got cursed by a book'' Winn said, Rosie understood and climbed her web and vanished in the shadows.

''Alright leave him to me'' Alex said and turned, kneel and offered his back, the rest lifted Virgil and placed him on Alex' back, he got up and marched towards the exit. ''Let's go!'' he said as the rest followed behind.

.  
They marched through the halls, the infirmary was not very far away from the library but they did had to go through several halls with students in them. ''Move, move, move!'' Alex yelled as the students parted ways.

Among the people on the hallway, was Dante Allen who watched as they carried his roommate through the hallways having something moving inside him, something he hated, something he thought he forgot.

He went after them.

.  
There was a slam on the door of the infirmary... but the door didn't budge. ''What the hell are you trying to do?!'' asked Lucia looking at Alex who made a cringe-painful expression, he tumbled a little and it was kind of impressive he didn't drop Virgil who was still unconscious on his back. ''I wanted to kick the door open...for dramatic effect'' he admitted, Lucia sighed, too tired for this bull, and opened the door like a normal person but as soon as it was slightly open Alex kicked it open. ''Is the nurse here?!"' he yelled getting inside.

''I don't know why I even try'' Lucia muttered going inside with the rest of the squad, Mrs. Flora Trigueño, who also served as the school's nurse came from a door in the back of the room ''Heavens, what happened?'' she asked rushing to help with Virgil and leading them to a bed where they could place him. ''We think he got curse, he was reading some book at the library and then a cloud of smoke came up and he passed out'' Explained Winn.

Mrs. Flora quickly started to check his vitals and then opened his eyes to see some sort of swirl of smoke. ''I see'' She then summoned her familiar, a big dog dog that looked stray but very healthy. ''Go get Rory, quickly'' she instructed and the familiar ran towards a window and passed through it like it was not there, Mrs. Flora looked at the kids, ''Alright, I will need to knit the curse away, and I need you guys to leave now'' she said as calm as she could but her voice was demanding.

Tyler came forward. ''Please let us stay, I got a curse knitted out of me before, it can be scary once he wakes up'' he said remembering how he felt when he saw that thread on his vein. ''Are you friends with this boy?'' she asked and Tyler nodded quickly. ''Virgilio Mare, he is a first year, an irregular like me, Winn and I spoke to him on the library before'' he nodded to Winn and he nodded back in agreement.

''Very well, knitting a curse won't take long, pull a chair and the rest can have a seat on those sofas'' she pointed to several green sofas on the far end of the room and the rest agreed to go. ''Now show me your hands'' she instructed Tyler and he did as told after pulling a chair next to the one Mrs. Flora made appear so she could sit as well. ''Immaculata'' she said pointing her wand to his hands and a breeze of air shoot from the tip of her wand and covered Tyler hands, suddenly the dusty hands he had from searching and reading old books at the library were sparkly clean. ''Now go to that cabinet and grab me a pair of scissors, a sewing needle, two knitting needles and some yarn'' she instructed pointing to a cabinet on the wall, Tyler quickly did as told and gave her the items on a metal tray.

''Immaculata'' she said again to the items and her hands as well. When everything was clean she pointed her wand to the needle making it float in the air. ''Innervenosa'' she conjured and the yarn floated in the air and got in the needle, the the needle became a golden color and went towards Virgil's arm. Tyler felt pale for a moment, he knew the thread needed to go in the vein in order for her to knit the curse away but he was not ready to see it happen. ''Mr. Suarez, can you hold his arms for me?'' she asked gently, Tyler swallowed hard but did as told and saw how the golden needle poked the vein on Virgil's median cubital vein and the yarn magically became several little threads that traveled around the needle and then got attached to the inner vein. The needle flied in the air but Mrs. Flora caught it expertly with two fingers and placed it back on the tray.

Virgil moved with his face looking uncomfortable but Tyler kept him in place. ''Very good Mr. Suarez'' Mentioned Mrs. Flora leaning back on her chair and starting to knit with the two knitting needles and the other end of the yarn. Soon Virgil seemed to relax and she smiled. ''You can let him go now'' Tyler did as told and sighed as he saw the relieved face Virgil had.

Ty pulled his chair to the other side of the bed, opposite to where Mrs. Flora was knitting and held Virgil's hand. She laughed a bit, ''You are a very kind person'' she mentioned, Tyler smiled a bit and kept studying Virgil's expressions in case something seemed out of place but he seemed like he was getting a pleasing dream as the thing that Mrs. Flora was knitting started to take form.

A puffing sound came from the other end of the room and Rory looked around a bit until his eyes fell on the squad on the sofas and then on Mrs. Flora, Tyler and Virgil. ''What happened?'' he asked worried. ''A small curse with a book he shouldn't been reading'' she said and nodded to Tyler. ''This little one over here helped me a lot'' she mentioned, Tyler blushed a bit and directed his sight to Rory.

''Are you alright?'' Rory asked, ''I'm fine, Virgil is the one who is hurt'' Tyler responded.  
''Well I would hardly call it suffering, is more a general discomfort, the curse was small after all'' Mrs. Flora said finishing the threading and gently cutting the yarn with a pair of scissors. Tyler looked at the thing Mrs. Flora was knitting and it was a dark blue scarf with the symbol of a wittered tree at the end. ''see? the curse only made him generally dizzy and uncomfortable but now is trapped in this scarf forever, now is harmless'' she said folding the scarf gently.

''Hmm...'' Virgil gently muttered as he lazily opened his eyes, Tyler squeezed his hand and smiled widely. ''You're awake!'' he said as Virgil woke up looking dazed and scared for a second but then his eyes fell on Tyler and he relaxed. ''Mr. Suarez, what happened?'' he asked, Tyler felt weird for the 'Mr.' again but he didn't mention it. ''You got cursed while reading a book, but Mrs. Flora knitted it away'' he said and he looked around to see Mrs. Flora, she showed him the wittered tree on the scarf. 

''I see, it seems I was careless'' Virgil admitted while sitting on the bed. ''But I feel better now, thank you'' he bowed to both Mrs. Flora and Tyler and he felt embarrassed again. ''I-it's fine! friends are here to help each other after all'' Tyler said and Virgil finally noticed he was still holding his hand. 

''Thank you'' he said for that as well and the squad came rushing in. ''Oh, he is awake!'' said Lucia smiling in relief. ''Be more careful'' Winn said with much care on his face but his voice seemed relieved as well. ''What were you reading anyways? I'm curious now'' Alex said and Winnifred agreed. ''Yeah! me too! I wanna know, I wanna know!'' she said.

Rory cleared his throat, ''Well, if you guys are done here, I need an explanation from Mr. Mare and then I need to set a punishment for him reading things he shouldn't be reading instead of asking the librarian for something that was not cursed'' he said and then pointed to the door. The squad shivered at the sweet smile but threatening sight Rory sent their way and they quickly set their goodbyes and bolted out of the room. Tyler stopped at the door. ''Are you sure you are alright?'' he asked and Virgil smiled a bit. ''I am'' he simply said, Tyler nodded and walked away.

.

The squad walked through the now empty hallways ready to go back to their dorms, Lucia grabbed Tyler's arm excitedly. ''But Ty, you sure looked like a nurse back there!'' she said, Alex grabbed his other arm. ''The lady is right, you looked so darn cool helping out and were quicker than a wild horse running away'' he laughed. ''Come on! I only grabbed some things and held him'' Tyler said looking shy. 

Just when the rest wanted to keep mentioning things a shout came from behind. ''Suarez!'' came the young but angry voice, they turned to see a boy with a disheveled uniform and a military cap turned backwards charging towards them, they quickly recognized him as the boy that was smoking on the woods of Brighton on the mortal plane, Dante Allen.

''What the hell did you do to him?!'' he came charging to Tyler, as on instinct the whole squad grabbed him and pushed him back. ''What the hell is up with you?!' yelled Alex pushing him back and standing between him and Tyler. Dante groaned, ''Stay out of this, this is between Suarez and I'' he said.

''What are you on about?'' Tyler asked confused, Dante's eyes looked crazy with anger and it was all directed to him. ''What did you do to him?! Why was he unconscious! I swear to god if you hurt him...'' he started and Lucia quickly cut him off. ''Who are you talking about?!'' she asked. ''Virgil, of course! I saw him unconscious with you, I wanna know what you did to him!'' he charged again and they pushed him away once more. 

''You are mad! Virgil cursed himself on accident, we were just taking him to the nurse'' Tyler tried and Dante tried once more this time being stopped by Winnifred and Alex taking his arms. ''Don't fuck with me! curse? Virgil would never be so stupid, this is all your fault for sure!'' 

''Dude, stop! why do you think Tyler had anything to do with this?'' Winnifred groaned as the tried with her strength to keep him away. ''Because it's all him! he writes this shitty thing about irregulars at this school then publishes it makes the irregulars feel like he is the saint patron of all irregulars but he is unable to help anyone, to save anyone!'' He yelled trying to keep charging, Tyler looked at him in shock, he couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he could only hear him rant. ''Everything bad that happened to the kids last year is also your fault! you go and challenge some terrorists to make life better for us but what have you done? Huh?! what have you done to help us besides writing lies and dragging us to a school where people treat us like shit! if anything bad happens to Virgil I will go and kill you, you hear me you...''

suddenly he stopped moving and the rest took this chance to push him away. Dante groaned and then grabbed his stomach like he was in pain. ''Fuck...not now, not now, not now'' he repeated and started to cough horribly, he fell to his knees and grabbed his stomach and then groaned as he squirmed in pain on the floor. 

''What the-'' Winnifred said as they could only stand there without knowing what to do. They watched as his skin started to turn red and vapor started to come out of there, soon little burn marks started to appear on his body ''It burns.. it burns!'' he groaned and Tyler took a step towards him when a flash of blue came running towards them. ''Dante, Dante!'' yelled Virgil as he got down to him and grabbed his face. ''Dante, what do you need? come one you have to tell me what you need'' he asked as calm as he could, Dante looked at him, his eyes being voids of blackness and groaned with several voices talking at the same time. ''W-water'' he managed to say. 

''Water! please I need water and I can't summon it with a practice wand'' Virgil pleaded to the rest and Lucia quickly pointed her want to Dante ''Aqua!'' she said and a stream of water came out of her wand, she pointed the stream to Dante and covered his body in water, a great deal of vapor came out of his skin but after a second his breathing seemed to calm down and relief covered his face, he seemed to calm down and his eyes returned to normal. 

''Better?'' Virgil asked looking at his face and Dante managed to nod. Virgil seemed relieved but then a cold stared masked his face. ''Then, for the life of you or little that is left, never fucking ever say anything unkind to Mr. Suarez and his friends'' he said with a tone so cold that matched Winn's angry cold voice. 

Dante looked at him like he didn't know him, Virgil helped him up and he trembled a little but managed to stand up. ''I heard it as I was coming here, you said many unkind things, you always do and I'm through with that shit. Maybe you are right and we both just need to stay away from each other and that's it'' he said and walked to the squad, grabbed Tyler's arm and walked away with him, the rest followed quickly since Dante, although shaken and speechless, seemed to be better now.

.  
Once they got a good amount of distance between the weird scene they just watched Tyler finally asked ''Alright, what the fuck was that?'' he said stopping and taking his hand back from Virgil's grasp.

Virgil sighed and scratched his head a bit. ''I apologize for that, I just... we have a weird relationship and Dante is sick... you saw him'' he said struggling with words a bit. ''He is not sick, he is cursed'' Winn said as tactless as ever. Virgil however only nodded. ''He doesn't want people to know so I would appreciate if you would keep this quiet but he has several unbreakable curses on his body, he deals with them every day but sometimes needs someone else to help him, like right now with the water. That's where I come in, I help him sometimes when he can't do it himself'' Virgil explained.

''I see...I didn't thought you were friends'' Mentioned Winn, ''I mean, when we saw you on the library that time with him you seemed pretty uncomfortable'' 

Virgil seemed a little apprehensive but he tried to explain as best as he could. ''We are childhood friends, he sometimes doesn't like me to speak with new people, he doesn't like to admit it but he gets pretty defensive'' he said.

''Yeah, no shit'' Winnifred said.

Virgil quickly bowed to Tyler. ''I'm sorry he said those things to you, I swear we... or at least I don't think about you in that way, you were very brave at what you did and... and...'' Tyler grabbed his shoulders making him look up. ''I'm fine, thank you'' Tyler smiled as best as he could.

Virgil analyzed his face but didn't said anything at the fake smile. ''Anyways, I followed you because I wanted to thank you again...'' he said.

Ty spoke with him for a little while but in the end Virgil had to go back to the medical ward, the squad started to walk silently and Tyler stopped. ''Hey, could you guys just go ahead?'' he asked them trying to keep the smile.

''Ty, I don't think we should leave you alone right now...'' Lucia said but Alex placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled to Ty. ''We will see you at the dorms'' he said and pulled them all back.

Ty went and leaned against a pillar near an archway that led to the outside of the castle, he slid down and rested his head on his knees. 

Was he right? did Tyler really made things wrong for all of them? to tell the truth he never though about that, he only wanted to challenge Taurus and Michael because he couldn't just let them run away, he did wanted to create a better world for all but right now he was preoccupied with finding his parents and now he was preoccupied with the whole Elizabeth the Twisted thing, he had so many things in his head right now and he didn't know if it was actually true... did he made matters worse? provoking the rioters like that probably made them angry and things for irregulars weren't getting any better.

Was this all because of what he did?

Oͮ̊͋͊f̖̻͔ͮ ̬́̆̊͐c͖͍̥ͩͣ͛͋ͮ̚o͓͈̗̤͚͈̫̎́̚u̫̹͈̭̮̺̲͒ͭr͘s̸͍̥͓͔͈͓ͧ̐è̤͎͎͍̗̙͛ ̨̥̳̖͉̳̞i͋̂̈͂ͭ̉͊҉͓̝̟̥t͈͙̫͕̖ͤͬ̓̄͒ ̟̭̳̱̝ͯ̾͆ͥ͡i̓̀͏͓̥ŝͦ͑ͣ̈́̿҉̱̜̲͈̥

''Of course it's your fault'' came a voice at the same time the voice in his head talked to him, Tyler looked up and saw Nelly Nedd playing on a portable video game with a smirk on her face.  
''I mean, you go around testing the patience of literal terrorists, go around trying to make people believe in bullshit like 'believe in yourself and your friends' but in the meanwhile your own parents were taken away and you were unable to do anything about it'' she closed the game and stepped closer to him. ''It seems to me that not you'' she took another step forward. ''Your friends'' she took another. ''Nor your little book, know shit about how to make things better for any irregulars, including you'' she stepped close to him and he was unable to move, he felt numb.

Nelly fixed her hair a little bit, put her game away and walked away from Ty.

He couldn't stand it, the air became too thin for him, he needed to get out of here, away from the school and people who would say these things to him.

š̳̅͗ͫͨ̄ḫ̛ͣͣ́̑͗e̴̟̘̟͉͓͕͓͐̀͆ͧͦ ̟̳̫̼̭̏̂̂̀ͯȋ̃ͨ̓̉҉̞̳ş̖̥͙͉̭͎̦̆ͭ̊ͤ ̶̦͕̦̹͕̦͖r͈͌͋̑̓̀͊̏̕i̖̮̬g̙̱͉̮̅̏ͤȟ͇͔̦͇̞͋̽̎͆t͔̠̫̤̳͌͌͌̾

''Shut up'' he talked back to the voice.  
He needed to get out, he ran towards the entrance of the school and then out of the gates towards the path that led to the beach and he ran, he ran fast trying to get away from everything, from this voice, from the thing about his parents, from the rioters, from the Twisted.

After a while he reached the beach and he wanted to throw everything and swim back, he wanted to go home, he needed to go back in time or anything that would help him get away.

He took off his shoes quickly and his necktie and let it fly away with the wind he unbuttoned his shirt and started to walk to the shore. 

J̏ͯ͛ͨuͫ̾̓̆sͥͭ͂͒̂t̋ͯ̓̆͗̊ ̓ͯͩ̾̆̋̚l̈́ͦé̈́ͬ̚av͌̈̔e̎͛̈́ͭ͌ͬ,ͦ̈ s͛̌ͦͯ̾̚wͬͬȉm͗̉ͦ͌͋̈́̅,̓̂ ̏g͌̏̑o̔̈́̓ ͊̒̚t̅͆ő ͐̌̚ẗh̿eͣ̽̋̆̎̄̏ ̈́̈́̊̏w̎̓̌̓̓̚a͆ťͪ̚ẻͯ̈́͛rͥ̿͂̂̇̃,̄̃ ̆ͫ͂t̓hͥͣ͒̓̒̓̎eͧ̓y͋̋ͩ͂̈̇̚ ͂ͣͫw̆o̔͒͆̇n͂̉ͣͩ͆'͛̂ͤt̉ͫͧ̒ͮ̌̚ ͤͦ̈̍̈̇ͮm̌ͣi͊̈s̅s͆̒͛ͮ ̽̊̾̽̉y͆ͩͯoͩͨ̾̓ͭ̆͗u̾.́

He was about to jump when Christopher's voice came behind him. ''Suarez?'' he asked, Tyler's eyes turned back to normal, he turned and saw him. ''W-what are you doing? were we supposed to meet today?'' he said trying to look calm, Tyler looked down and he was already in the water with him, the sea above their knees now.

He didn't knew anything that was going on but he came after him and almost jumped in the water with him. Tyler slowly walked towards him and slowly lowered his head to Christopher's chest.  
''Whoa, Suarez, hey calm down there'' he said but quickly noticed Tyler was trembling.

''Tyler...'' he whispered and grabbed him slowly pulling him to the shore. They walked to the tree next to the water and on the roots.

Tyler took a while but he ended up explaining everything to him, about what happened at the library except the investigation about Elizabeth of course, and then the thing with Dante and that girl Nelly Nedd, he explained how he felt like she was right and that he hasn't done anything to help anyone, and how he just suddenly felt like he needed to run away and was willing to go to the water for that to happen.

''And then you found me...What are you doing here anyways?'' Tyler asked looking up, he suddenly noticed that he had been leaning his head on Christopher's shoulder and tried to get up but he felt Christopher's hand on his hip keeping him close. ''J-just until you calm down...'' Christopher said looking away ''And I come here by myself to think sometimes, I saw you looking lost and then running to the sea and I rushed to you'' he added.

Tyler kept leaning against his new friend... his former enemy and he felt his heart calm down little by little, his shoulders relaxed and his mind seemed clear now.

''You know, that day when the rioters attacked and you rushed to stay in front of me, you were ready to die for someone you hate... I thought you were the stupidest boy around but after that... I was so grateful'' he said taking a deep breath. ''I'm alive because you saved me, you couldn't save them all from being kidnapped but you saved me'' Christopher let go of his waist and looked down at his face. ''And I am so grateful for that''

For a moment they stared into each other's eyes, just looking at each other like the world wasn't there, for a second Tyler forgot about the pain and the sadness, the voices in his head and the dangers to come and Christopher forgot about stupid plans and arranged marriages, about kingdoms and being a prince.

'Gods, you look beautiful' Christopher almost said but he kept quiet, he didn't knew how he was going to keep developing this feeling but he knew he wanted it to keep growing, he didn't knew what step to take now or what's to come but he knew he wanted him.

He wanted Tyler.

Tyler was unable to keep the stare for much longer and lowered his sight to the ground. ''You are too kind to me'' Tyler said but smiled. ''That day, saving you, that's one of my proudest moments... thank you'' Tyler looked up but this time his eyes showed some determination in them. ''I want you to meet my friends'' he declared, Christopher blinked a couple times processing the information.

''Come again?'' he asked, Tyler nodded, ''I want them to see this side of you! the kind part, the part that is my friend and is helping me feel better, I want them to see the real you'' he said and grabbed his face.

Christopher was ready to say no, he should've said no but the effect this boy had on him was devastating, the look on his eyes, his fingers on his skin, he wanted to accept anything the boy would propose right there and then. ''A-alright'' he agreed to it without thinking it again and his reward was the grinning face that drew itself on Tyler's features.

He was far too gone now, he liked this boy way too much.

.

Winn was trying to concentrate on some light reading on his room but his mind kept coming back to Tyler's fake smile, what that Dante boy said seemed to really affect him and he wanted to see how he was but they didn't knew where he went to cool off. In the end he couldn't concentrate, he threw his book to the side and laid in bed. 

Then the door clicked and it opened, Christopher came inside looking dazed like he was thinking about something seriously, Winn noticed from the squeaking sound of his shoes that he was wet. ''Went for a swim?'' he asked sarcastically but Christopher didn't answer, 'That's new' thought Winn as he was usually ready for Christopher to respond with an awful remark or some nasty comment.

''Taking a bath'' Christopher said simply going to his closet and dropping his wet pants on the floor, he then went to take off his shirt, Winn shrugged and turned off the lamp on his bed stand and took off his glasses.

Christopher finished undressing and took his clothes to a basket next to the closet, he checked the pockets for anything valuable before the munch-mons came to take the laundry but only found some papers that he threw to the side, he wrapped a towel around him and walked out of the room towards the bath....

...Winn woke up the next morning looking to his side to see Christopher still sleeping, he seemed pretty out of it so Winn stretched and put on his glasses ready to head for the bathroom, his feet quickly touched something wet and weird, he rolled his eyes as he saw a bunch of crumpled wet papers all around the room. He sent a nasty sight to Christopher and picked them up ready to throw them...

He thought that it might be a good idea to unfold a few to see if there was anything important that Christopher would complain later about it being lost, the first one was a crude drawing of Mrs. Black yelling at students, the other was a list of ingredients for a potion they made a few days back but then... another one... got his attention in the worst way possible.

‘The Plan to get Tyler to fall in love with me' was the title on the paper, Winn looked at it with a sunken feeling on his stomach as he read the steps of the plan.  
'Step one, get him away from his friends'  
'Step two, get close to him'  
'Step three, get him to make up with his friends so he can trust me more'  
'Step four, hold him close so he can feel secure around me'  
'Step five, touch him a bit so he can feel attracted'  
'Step six, get him to introduce me to his friends so they trust me'  
'Step seven, kiss him'  
'Step eight, get to tell him he loves me'  
'Step nine, get him to a crowded area where I reveal the plan'  
'Step ten, laugh as he stays humiliated and hurt'

Winn read the list over and over and directed a look of pure hatred towards Christopher, how could he fall into this? he was ready to help Christopher get with Tyler because it seemed it would made Tyler happy, but this.. this plan! he was deceived! and Tyler was being deceived by Christopher as well.

Winn was ready to confront him there but took the note and put it on his pockets and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him. 

No, he will not let this happen, Tyler needed to know the truth today, the truth of the garbage Christopher Y. Foster was.

.  
Winn finished preparing for the morning and marched towards one of the common rooms for the boys searching for Tyler and Alex but he only found Alex who was putting on his hat ready to go out and head to the dining room for breakfast. ''Where is Tyler?'' Winn asked, Alex grinned at him. ''Well, good morning to you too! aren't you chipper in the mornings?'' he smiled but Winn only smacked his hat. ''Tyler, where?'' he asked again, Alex shrugged. ''He went to the dining hall already, he said he had something to tell us, something about reintroducing us to someone in a new light, whatever that means'' he said.

Winn read the list again and he felt sick, one of the steps was touching Tyler so he would feel attracted to Christopher and the next one was to get Tyler to introduce him to his friends so their trust would go up, Winn felt angry as it seemed Christopher was already touching Tyler. The next step after introducing them would be to kiss him... no, he will not allow this to happen.

''Come on! he is in trouble, read this'' he said and gave Alex the paper while marching out of the dorms. Alex ran behind him while reading the list. ''What, I don't understand who wrote this?'' Alex asked reading the thing again. ''Christopher, who else?! who else would be so twisted to try and manipulate Tyler like this?'' he said and Alex quickly changed his face into a furious scowl. ''That son of a bitch did this?!" he asked almost incredulous. ''Yes! and he was already on step six!'' he said and Alex read the list again. ''Touch him? kiss him? this sick son of a bitch will pay! let's go find them'' Alex growled and grabbed Winn's arm charging towards the dining hall.

Once they arrived to the dining hall they quickly search the area to try and find Tyler and found Lucia and Winnifred stuffing their faces on some sort of fruit pie, Winn questioned their feeding habits internally but kept quiet and walked to them. ''Where is Tyler, he is in trouble?'' he asked and Alex quickly produced the note. ''Christopher made this sick list to fuck up with Ty'' he said and with their mouths full of pie the girls read the note, Lucia started choking and Winnifred spit out chunks of food they quickly recovered and got up from their seats. ''''He did what?!'''' they yelled at the same time, both chugged the last bits of milk on their cups and went towards the door. ''He said to meed him at the green house, we can still catch up to him!''

.  
Christopher and Pamela were waiting on the greenhouse, she looked kind of mad since she skipped breakfast for this but Christopher told her about what was happening today and he needed some support... well the support part he didn't say but Pamela assumed he needed it.

A couple days ago he came to Pamela and set her aside from the group of girls she was chatting with and when they were alone he said the words she'd been wanting to hear for so long. 'You were right' he said to her and she was so happy with it she grinned like the Cheshire cat. He then proceeded to tell him that he liked Tyler but he clarified that he might only think of him as a possible comrade and there were no romantic feelings whatsoever, Pamela sighed tiredly but thought that this was better than nothing.

''So, in the end you ended up discarding that stupid plan of yours?'' she asked while playing with her hair a bit, Christopher, who seemed on edge, jumped at bit at the sound of her voice but regained composure soon. ''Not yet, I should probably get to it since I don't feel like using it anymore'' he said and started to search his pockets for the paper with the plan but found nothing. ''Huh, that's weird it should be here'' he said searching again but found nothing once more.

''What, you lost it?'' Pamela asked, getting up from her seat on the empty green house. ''I surely misplaced it somewhere, it's probably still on my room'' he said now searching his pocket pack.

''Wait, your room?!" Pamela exclaimed looking perplexed, Christopher looked at her with a weird stare ''Yeah, why?'' he asked, Pamela then looked mortified. ''Your room! with your roommate? the one who is Tyler's friend?'' she said and realization came on his eyes.

They both bolted out of the greenhouse ready to run to the dorms to try and find the paper but as soon as they came out they saw the figure of Tyler coming down a small patch of grass from the castle to the greenhouse, he looked up and looked at them and he smiled widely.

He came running to them. ''Hey!'' he said to Christopher looking at him with fondness, he then looked at Pamela as well. ''Good morning! didn't know you were going to be here'' he said smiling, Pamela felt so uncomfortable looking at that sincere smile when she didn't knew if he would be able to keep it. ''y-yeah, he needed the support'' she managed to say, Tyler nodded happily and looked back at Christopher. ''So! you ready? don't need to be nervous, my friends are awesome and I know they will think you are awesome too!'' he grinned again.

Christopher felt sick to his stomach, he had to get out and try to find the damn paper, tear it to pieces and never mention it again but when he was about to start making up excuses to leave Tyler's friends appeared running behind him.

''Ty! get the hell away from that psycho!'' Yelled Lucia coming close and snatching Tyler away. ''Lu! wait what the-'' Tyler protested but there was already a wall of both Lucia and Winnifred between Tyler and Christopher. ''Read this, please'' Winn said giving him the paper and Christopher recognized it immediately.

''Hey, give that back!'' Christopher tried to take it but the girls slapped his hand away. Tyler however didn't read the paper, he looked at the rest like they were crazy. ''Guys, what is going on? come on don't act like this! I-I wanted to show you guys something today'' he said. ''Tyler, listen you will need to read that and-'' Alex began but was cut off by Tyler. ''I know I've been sneaking out without telling you guys but It's because I had a good reason to, you see... I didn't want to lie to you guys but when I was angry at you I made a new friend and I wanted you guys to know him!'' she smiled nervously.

''Tyler...'' Winn tried but he was not listening. ''A-and I know he is not the person you might expect me to befriend but he is a really nice person... is Christopher right here!'' he said signaling to him but Christopher could not move he just stared at Tyler as someone who had a precious thing about to crumble. ''Ty!'' Winnifred yelled but Tyler kept rambling, ''Yeah! yeah I know! we had our troubles in the past but once you get to talk to him you will realize how kind he is, how much of a good person he is, how much he cares about me! I really think we can all be friends... I know is silly but I would like all my friends to like each other and believe me nobody is more shocked about this but Christopher and I really have a lot in common and I enjoy his company so...'' he looked up to all his friends and they all seemed mortified. ''Guys, what's wrong?'' he asked.

''Please don't do this...'' Christopher whispered to the girls in front of him, Winn heard it as well and he was furious. ''Don't do what? tell the truth?! that you tricked him, tricked me in believing you were good for him and would not do any harm? well the harm is done you sick bastard'' Winn then looked at Tyler. ''Ty, please read the damn paper'' he half pleaded half ordered.

Looking at them all like they were crazy, Tyler lowered his eyes to the paper and read it... ''My plan to....what?'' he said and read it once and then again and then one more time, he blinked several times and then slowly looked up at Winn. ''What is this?'' he asked with a trembling smile. At the corner of his eye he saw a group of first years approaching early for their first lesson on the greenhouse so he tried to keep his voice down.

Alex tried to keep his voice down as well but his anger came out from those whispers''He is fucking with you, he made this whole shit plan to try and make you fall in love with him or some shit and then humiliate you in front of the whole school'' he growled.

Tyler quickly looked at Christopher, smiling but it was again another fake smile. ''T-this is not true, right? I mean you wouldn't...Right?'' he asked, Pamela looked away looking mad and uncomfortable, Christopher opened his mouth and closed it several times like a fish out of water. ''You have it all wrong'' he tried and the girls went ballistic. ''All wrong?! there it is! as if we needed more but now we have it in written form that you are an absolute asshole!'' Yelled Lucia. ''You make this shit to try and manipulate his feelings? after all he's been through already? and why?! because you don't like him?! you are really sick in the head you know that?'' Winnifred almost charged to him but Lucia stopped her.

''Please... tell me they got it wrong'' Tyler said, his smile all gone now, a small black bird started to fly circles around them.

''I tell you, it's all wrong!'' Christopher tried again. ''So you didn't wrote this?!'' Tyler asked his voice raising, getting the attention of the first years passing by. Two birds flying around now.

''I-I did, but that's..'' Christopher tried to say something but Tyler was not having it anymore. ''Why? I mean... I trusted you, I thought you were my friend!'' he yelled, four birds now flying.

''Would you just listen to him?!" Pamela snapped but Christopher stopped her and tried to get closer to Tyler. ''Listen, that thing, I did wrote it but-'' Tyler then cut him off. ''No! Why?! I mean look at this shit! 'touching me' then the one about kissing me, try to make me fall in love? why would you try something this shitty? and love... love? I just thought we were friends!'' he ranted, ten birds around.

''Friends...'' Christopher repeated and it hurt, he realized Tyler was not going to hear him and he didn't blame him, he then noticed the crowd of first years watching and he knew it was over... all of these plans, the scheming, and the smiled Tyler gave him, they were over. He at least had to save some face in front of the first years. He lowered his head and then... he laughed, he cackled maniacally and then raised his head and his face seemed so grotesque and mocking. ''Friends?! You and I would never be friends, and loving you that's out of the question as well! what did you think that I would treat you like shit all last year and suddenly I'm going to be nice? come on Suarez I knew you were stupid but not completely insane!'' he mocked him, laughing between sentences.

Pamela looked at him with wide eyes, she then looked down tired, it was over, she tried to make her friend happy and she failed, she could only back him up on this as well. She acted as best as she could and raised her head with a similar mocking smirk. ''Told you he would figure it out, but it was fun toying around for a while'' she said checking her nails and a shadow passed over her, she finally looked up and noticed around thirty birds flying around them.

Tyler looked... hurt but more than that he was angry. ''I really trusted you...'' he said with his voice breaking in anger but there were no tears on his eyes, no, he would not show that to Christopher.

''Trust? you throw that shit around way too much'' Christopher laughed. ''Whatever you figured it out early but at least I got to see you looking like an idiot, that's what you get for telling me you were better than me and would never go out with someone like me, this 'someone like me' turned out to be better in the end, I managed to trick you after all'' he put his arms on his pockets and he clenched his fists inside... 'just a bit more, endure it a bit more, endure the pain you were giving him and the pain you were feeling' that's what Christopher was telling himself inside.

Alex almost charged but Lucia also stopped him. ''So this was the reason?! because Tyler already know he is much better than you?'' he asked.

''Christopher'' Pamela said looking at a flock of fifty to sixty birds flying around. Christopher looked at her and then looked up noticing the flock of birds, the squad also looked up, all except Tyler.  
A horrible sound of birds screeching on the trees around the forest was heard and another flock came by and then they all took possition flying in one place behind Tyler.

He stood there, his cape flowing with the wind, he looked like a king of beasts with a whole flock of countless birds behind him all looking at Christopher just waiting for the order to attack. Christopher took a step back looking at the furious stare on his eyes and the threatening look on the birds.

''Tyler... you better calm down'' Winn said looking at the scene feeling uneasy. ''L-let's just leave'' Winnifred tried but Tyler was not hearing them. The group of first years looked around and they looked scared out of their boots looking at the scene.

Tyler kept his stare to Christopher ''You... don't you ever touch me, don't you ever talk to me, don't look my way and maybe, just maybe I won't fuck you up. La proxima vez que quieras acercarte a mi mejor date la vuelta antes de que haga algo de lo que no me arrepentire tanto!'' He said and crumbled the paper on his hand still not breaking eye contact, he threw it up in the air and the birds all attacked the paper, in a second there was nothing, not even scraps or any remains of the paper.

Tyler stopped his attack pose, he relaxed his shoulders and stood straight, he looked one last time at Christopher like he was nothing but an ant on the ground and the flock of birds all seemed to regain their own consciousness and broke formation all flying away on different directions. They didn't notice until then that the birds made the day appear somber but now that they were gone the sun shined with all it's strength. Tyler turned around and walked away, the rest followed.

.  
The group of shaken first years looked at each other and whispered among them. ''You see! irregulars are really monsters after all'' ''controlling so many birds without even casting a spell, just what is up with that guy?!'' ''I tell you, we must keep away from them!'' 

Gabriel Bennett however looked pleased with the scene and when Christopher left he finally spoke up to Gracie who was next to him. ''So strong, I think I might join whatever team he is at, which extra curricular was that anyways?'' he asked, Gracie seemed to come out of a trance and after a second responded. ''Huh, I think it was the magical choir'' she answered. 

The voice of Nelly came from behind ''Why in the world would you wanna be near something so dangerous?'' she asked incredulous. ''I like strong people! and I have a nice voice, maybe I'm able to get closer to him and he would teach me how to protect myself like that'' Gabriel responded and yawned a bit. ''I get it, if he can teach us to do things like that we could protect ourselves from any danger'' The beautiful Vice said getting close to the group of irregulars that formed and were having a conversation now. ''I might want to join too! I don't have much confidence on my voice but I can try!'' she said cheerfully. 

Gabriel nodded and looked down at Gracie who was fidgeting with her bow tie, ''What about you, Gracie? I heard you on music and magic class, your voice is so strong!'' he asked, Gracie looked so shocked for a moment and hid her face on her hat. ''I-I don't know I'm not good performing but if you two guys try I might do it as well... also'' she looked at the empty space left by Tyler and the rest. ''...I'm worried about Tyler, maybe we can all help him overcome these type of things if we irregulars all get closer together''

''Come on! you really believe that shit?'' Asked Dante crossing his arms. ''I will try out'' cut off Virgil taking off his googles, ''It will be interesting and I love interesting things'' he added, Dante scoffed, ''You? why the fuck would you want to sing around a bunch of strangers in a fucking stage for?'' Dante asked but Virgil ignored him.

The gentle voice of Ophelia came from behind, she was locked by the arm with his brother who explained what happened with the yelling and the birds to her. ''I want to try! by the time auditions are held the potion will be ready and I will be able to see! I think I can perform better if I can see them'' Ophelia said and squeezed her brother's hand. ''You will help me right? would you audition with me?'' she asked to Zach and his mouth twisted on a nervous smile. ''S-sure'' he said not very sure of himself. 

''So all of you losers are trying for that team?!'' Amy Stone asked looking at them all and they nodded. ''Why?'' she asked. ''You heard us, we find it interesting!'' Vice responded, ''Besides, Irregulars need to stick together'' Gabriel cheered and the irregulars except Vice, Dante and Nelly cheered. ''Yeah!'' they said together, even Zach let out a small silent cheer raising his fist a tiny bit.

Nelly sneered. ''You actually believe that crap? that all of us will stick together and nothing bad will happen? that Suarez guy is just a fraud! you can't believe anything he says'' she protested but Gabriel just shrugged. ''He was with his friends right now and he seemed powerful, besides...'' he started to walk with the rest of the irregulars going with him. ''...You three are also sticking with each other and us as well, despite our differences'' he said, rested his head on his arms and kept walking towards the greenhouse.

The trouble trio, Dante, Amy and Nelly all stared at each other and Nelly rushed behind the group. ''W-wait, that doesn't mean anything!'' she tried.

.

Lucia kept ranting on and on walking up and down an empty hallway, the rest were leaning against a wall while Tyler was on the opposite side sitting against the wall with his head on his knees. ''I mean why would ever, fucking ever, posses you into believing that bullshit?! after all the shit he has said against you, me and any irregular?! did you lost your common sense as well or what?'' Lucia ranted at him.

Tyler sighed under his knees while Lucia kept going, ''I mean you should be smart enough! you keep doing things like this, trusting people, no! trusting him! and he ends up fucking you over, you did it once before he knew you were an irregular and even when he gave you the MVP medal or when he taught you how to summon needles, every time you get closer to him, you give him a chance and he comes back being the same asshole he has been since fucking day one!'' she kept pacing up and down and Tyler sobbed a bit.

Lucia stopped and walked to him. ''Don't you cry, he doesn't deserve that'' she said softly but still with a serious tone, Tyler looked up, his eyes were red. ''I just, really trusted him...'' he said and Lucia got down to his level and gently smacked his forehead.

''It's alright, I understand you were feeling angry at us but remember that you need to believe in us, don't keep us in the dark about things like this anymore, if we can help you, give you insight or anything please ask us, that's what friends are for'' Lucia said more gently this time.

Alex let out some air. ''I'm actually angry, but I guess we brought this upon ourselves after our fight, just please tell us next time you are getting close to someone we don't completely like'' he said. 

''I just want to punch him in the face!'' Said Winnifred. ''I don't like the smug face he was wearing when he made fun of you, next time he tries something like this I will go ahead and destroy him'' she cracked her knuckles. 

In the end Winn remained silent for a second before finally letting out what was eating him inside. ''Ty... to be honest I also trusted him'' he confessed, Tyler looked up at him with surprise drawn on his face and the rest looked at him like he was crazy. ''Excuse me?'' asked Alex.

Winn tried his best to explain. ''I thought that maybe... maybe he was changing! I mean I'm his roommate after all, I see him a little bit more time than any of you and whenever I would see him interacting with you and not being a complete asshole I would see something in his eyes, like some sort of fondness towards you... I actually thought he liked you romantically and that you might get closer with time... but then I saw the note and I realized he managed to trick me as well...''

''Winn... you thought I could actually fall for him?'' Tyler said and Winn shrugged. ''I only thought he looked happy near you and you looked happy as well, it was not necessarily a romantic type of happy in your part but I thought something was there'' he said looking so guilty.

''Winn, whoever I like is up to me and my heart, I see you were trying to see me happy but I honestly didn't felt anything but friendship towards him... and now only disgusts'' Tyler looked back down.

''I know, I fucked up... sorry'' Winn said, Ty nodded. ''It's alright, we have other things to worry about now...'' Tyler said getting up with Lucia's help. 

''Yes, for now let's continue the investigation on Elizabeth, let's see if they are actually trying to get her research back'' Lucia said.

Suddenly something warm came from Tyler's pockets, he summoned his wand and he felt how it was warmer than usual, soon the Ceiba tree started to talk to him. 'Child, it is finally time. The insects had gathered information, how soon can you get to the bank where the attacks occurred?' the tree talked. ''....Tonight!'' Tyler said to the tree already determined, the tree talked again. 'The insects found a lead, if you can please go tonight to the place of the attack, you will also need to visit your house and one more location but I will tell you when you finish to visit the first two places' he said and Ty nodded, the warmth stopped and the tree's presence went away.

''Tyler? was that the tree, what did it said?'' asked Lucia.

''It said we need to go to the bank, tonight... let's gather some brooms and contact Husky, we are sneaking away to the city'' Tyler declared.  
.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty then! you know the drill  
> Comments keep me going also if you have any theories or ideas you can let me know or even follow me on instagram as roxjart


	9. Chapter 09: The Curse of Tyler Suarez

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING this one is LOOOOONG mama!  
> I had many things to lay down on this episode and I still wanted to keep writing but I will have to leave that for the next one so damn it another cliffhanger! But I'm writing every day now so the update shouldn't be so far away!

Chapter 9.  
The Curse of Tyler Suarez.

When Tyler brought up the idea of going to the city and try to find clues directly from the bank where the attacks occurred there were several questions from his friends. ''Why?'' ''Why does the tree want you to go?'' ''How are we supposed to get there?'' the last one was the most difficult one, the first two Tyler responded with 'I don't know, but I'm going' and the last one was a bit more complicated.

''I was thinking we can get there by flying'' Tyler suggested, there was still some time before they received their course on puffification and even then puffing oneself that far was a difficult task, the brooms were the best way to get all the way there. ''Ty, the brooms are always under a lock spell, we cannot get them'' Winn said but Tyler quickly had a response for that one. ''The ones Winnifred invented are not under school regulation! they are not under any locks and we can summon them with the spell she created'' he said and it was true, the portable broomsticks that Winnifred invented last year for the spells examinations were not under school regulations and they could use them without having to break any locks.

''But the island is currently under a protective barrier, it is impossible for a student to go out without a teacher's knowing and no enemies can come inside'' Alex thought out loud.

Winn put his hand on his chin for a moment and thought for a bit he then snapped his fingers. ''I've got it! the barrier prevents enemies from coming in and students to go out of the island but that's only on the meta-world. While the barrier prevents an enemy to go into the mortal plane of the island and then come to the meta-world and prevents students to get out of the island on the meta-world, nothing prevents a student to go to the mortal plane and then getting out of the island that way'' he explained. ''After all, students from our school have permission to cross over the plane and visit the mortal school Brighton, we will not be alerting anyone this way'' he added.

''Wait! I hate to be the voice of reason...'' Said Alex and the rest looked at him like he was out of character. ''Believe me, I'm also surprised, but honestly, if we go to the city do you think nobody will recognize a group of students from Diaz' and will contact the school?'' he said making some sense, if people were to see a group of kids out at night, even if they wore different clothing, they might contact the school or try to contact any authorities since not even home schooled kids were supposed to be out late at night.

Tyler thought for a bit and came to the obvious conclusion. ''We will need disguises'' he said, Winn agreed, ''I can make us a potion so that people can see an illusion of some grown ups when they look at us, it will take just a couple hours'' Winn offered.

Looking at each other they nodded and started to form a plan.

.  
At seven o'clock the squad crossed the barrier between worlds and they were on the mortal plane near the clearing where they saw Husky change into his ward form. Husky was already there waiting for them.

''Ty!'' he said cheerfully in a half whisper and ran towards him and hugged him. After what happened with Christopher, Tyler was so glad to have this warm embrace, the softness of his arms around him and his breath against his hair, Tyler felt a home.

Husky quickly noticed something was odd and broke the hug to look at his face. ''Hey, what's wrong?'' he asked smiling gently. ''I will tell you later'' Tyler promised, Husky was not completely pleased with it but agreed to it and looked at the others. ''Let's go'' he said and not leaving Tyler's side walked towards the woods with the rest of the squad.

They reached a part of the beach away from the main docks of the school on the mortal plane, they threw the small pebbles that contained the brooms in the air and summoned ''Nuncparum'' and the brooms appeared, they took them in their hands, Tyler turned to Husky. ''We'll be back in a few hours, anything happens try to talk to me with the CIM'' Tyler said but Husky looked at him like he was crazy. ''What are you talking about? I'm obviously coming with you'' he declared.

Tyler denied quickly with his head. ''Husky no, absolutely no! this might be dangerous'' he said but Husky was not having it. ''Hey! you are treating me like some weak puppy, I remind you that I can tear a tree from its roots with my bare hands and more importantly...'' Husky grabbed his face gently. ''I'm here to protect you, as your ward and your best friend'' he said.

Tyler felt like he was at a loss of words, he didn't knew if it was his feelings still going wild for what happened with Christopher that day but he felt a pull on his stomach similar to the things he felt for Alex, he brushed it away as there were more important things to do now and looked at his friends, ''This is crazy right? I mean we don't know what we can find'' He said but the rest looked at each other not agreeing at all. Lucia came first. ''I mean Ty, we might need the extra muscle and Husky is capable of helping us out on a though situation'' she said. Winnifred quickly agreed to it. ''We would need all the help we can get'' she said and then Winn ''And I already made enough potions so even Husky can disguise himself'' and surprisingly enough Alex also agreed. ''It wouldn't do any harm'' he said.

Defeated but still worried Tyler ended up agreeing, they climbed up on the brooms and Ty told Husky to get on the back of his broomstick, Husky did and held onto Tyler's shoulders. ''You will fall like that, hold onto my hips'' he said. ''W-what'' Husky said going red and getting cold sweat around his forehead, Lucia couldn't help but let out a small laugh. ''Shut up'' whispered Husky to her and did as told and took hold on Tyler's hips.

Ty looked at his friends and grinned. ''Ready? this is going to be dangerous, mad and downright against any regulations we have at school right now'' he asked them and they all nodded. ''Let's fuck shit up'' Said Lucia and they took to the heavens.

It was a pretty cloudy night, Tyler went above the clouds as Husky held on tightly on his hips, he felt him trembling a bit and it was just then that Tyler noticed he was only wearing some t-shirt and shorts. ''Hey, you cold?'' he asked and Husky denied with his head. ''I'm fine...'' he said so softly that Tyler had trouble hearing him. ''Tell me if I'm too fast'' Ty said and then went forward to the far away lights of Seagull City that was across the sea waters. 

The fly was going to take a while, the squad took formation closely and some were exchanging some conversations about how exciting this actually was, sneaking out, going to the city without supervision and even when Winn tried to tell them to be focused about the dangers of the mission it was noticeable that he was also excited. They were wearing a mixture of civilian clothes and magical clothes, sort of the things you would see on aesthetic posts of modern witches. 

Tyler remained silent for a bit just listening to his friends talking, Husky then rested his head on Tyler's back. ''Hey...'' he said softly. ''Yeah?'' Tyler asked smiling although Husky could not see it. ''Why were you so sad earlier?'' Husky asked.

Tyler sighed, he knew he couldn't keep anything from Husky so he didn't beat around the bush and told him everything that happened with Christopher, from the fake friendship to the secret meetings to the list and the betrayal feelings he was having right now.

''He fucking...did...what?!"' Husky growled and Tyler quickly felt something sharp clasping around his hips. ''Ouch! Husky, claws, claws!'' Tyler groaned and Husky quickly let go of his hips, retracted his claws and his hands returned to his human form, he quickly felt like he was going to fall down and held onto his hips again but this time hugging him close. ''Sorry! I still don't have it under control'' Husky apologized and although Tyler was feeling like Husky was taking all the air from his lungs with that hug he quickly let him know that everything was alright.

Husky relaxed and placed his head again on his back. ''Damn it, Ty... I'm supposed to be there for you for this kind of things... if he ever comes close to you I-'' Ty cut him off. ''Hey, I'm fine. Besides...'' he looked at his group of friends talking among each other. ''I have them with me when you are not around, I promise I'm fine'' he said.

Husky felt many things, he felt relieved because Tyler seemed alright, he felt angry because of that asshole toying with him, he felt guilty for not being there to help and the selfish part of him felt so happy that the asshole was out of his life and it was him who was hugging him right now. Because even Husky felt it, he was able to see it so clearly, after all, when you like someone you pay attention to all the people who are after them and he knew that whatever happened, whatever lie Christopher told Ty, he knew that there was some interest from Christopher to Tyler and he was so happy that the asshole was out so he could now get closer to Tyler...

But Husky knew, it was not the time yet, they were dealing with too many things right now and they didn't had time to add romance to the mixture, he would make his move later but not now, he needed to wait until they would find Tyler's parents and now avoid a bunch of extremists from raising the dead.

''Say, Husky...'' Tyler asked suddenly, Husky rested his chin on his shoulder. ''Yah?'' he asked with a funny voice, Tyler laughed a bit before asking. ''Last year, you went into one of your parents secret trips, remember? you never told me what that was about, was it a ward thing?'' 

''Hmm, yeah, so my parents told me about me being a ward after you started school, remember when you found me at the beach when you were going to introduce me to Lucia? that was the day they told me and I was very upset, after you both cheered me up I returned home and talked to them, they explained that this 'trip' was actually a ritual they make every year, we go to a secret place, a sacred land for wards where several tribes reunite once a year, the portal to the world of wards is open by a group of old wards we call 'the elders' and we get to connect to our real form on that spirit realm, we do this to sort of 'recharge''' he said. ''Recharge?'' Asked Tyler looking over his shoulder almost touching his cheek with Husky's lips. Husky quickly pulled away and went back to place his head on Ty's back.

''Y-yeah! apparently we are not able to stay at the same realm for years length of time, so we connect to the spirit world once a year to recharge and be able to go on with our lives on the mortal or meta realms'' he explained, Tyler sort of understood the concept and nodded. ''I see, must be interesting seeing other wards'' he said and Husky nodded. ''Yes! there are many of then, more than one would've thought is sort of a festival as well, many wards come from far away to the sacred place to recharge, my parents introduced me to old friends of theirs, they are so interesting, there is this guy, his animal form is a huge white eagle! he was almost as big as a damn house!'' Husky explained excitedly, Tyler grinned hearing more stories about this 'sacred ward festival' for a while until they finally were able to see the city more clearly.

''Alright, let's land around that cliff'' Lucia said pointing to a cliff away from the buildings and houses, the place had many trees around where they could land without being seen. As soon as they landed they pocketed the brooms and Winn took out the potions and gave each one. ''This will create an illusion that would make us look older'' he said and they all took the whole potion on one big gulp.

There was some grumbling on their bodies and then slowly a misty hand appeared on top of Tyler's hand and it got attached to his hand then it stretched until it covered his whole arm and then it spread through his whole body, Ty saw how the same thing happened to his friends and soon the misty body took color and form and a bunch of adults he'd never seen before were before him. ''G-guys?'' Tyler asked and the rest nodded. ''Ty?'' Winnifred asked and he nodded as well. 

They looked older, like twenty-something adults, Lucia looked like a woman with a soft face and long blonde hair, she actually looked like a blonde version of her mother, Alex looked so big, he was the tallest of them all, with broad shoulders and his freckles a little bit more faded but still there, he looked like some sort of fashion model, Ty quickly directed his sight to another friend before getting all red from looking at him. Winnifred looked lean and sharp but still she looked strong and the black dress she was wearing actually showed some pretty nice biceps, sort of like an Olympic female athlete will look like. Winn looked like that young professor everyone has a crush on, his square glasses resting on his square face and he had a sharp jawline that Ty was sure could cut someone in half.

But the one taking his breath away was Husky, he was almost as tall as Alex, his ashy hair was short and above his grey eyes, a square jawline as well and a muscular body, the smile he gave Ty was worth a million bucks. Tyler got close and took his face. ''Holy shit Husky! you look awesome!'' he said Husky laughed. ''You don't look so bad yourself'' he grinned. 

Tyler tried to look at himself but only seemed taller and a bit lean, he hoped he had a mirror to look at himself and then his eyes fell on Winn who was looking at him with a small smile. ''W-what?'' he asked and Winn blinked coming back to reality. ''Sorry, it's just that... I've seen him young in pictures on old books but you really look like a young version of your great grandfather'' he said and quickly took a book out of his pocket pack and flicked the pages until he found what he was looking for, he showed the rest a page with a picture of his great grandfather on his younger days.

His face looked sharp, his eyes were black as night and had a mixture of adventure and kindness on them, thick eyebrows but not huge and they were hidden anyways by some round glasses, he had a mustache pretty on brand for the time and slicked hair that was also pretty common at the time. He looked lean and was dressed on a brown suit with a pocket watch hanging from his pockets, he looked so elegant yet young. 

Lucia looked at the picture and then at Tyler ''He is right! you are only missing the hairstyle and the mustache'' she said and took out her phone, took a picture of Tyler and showed it to him. Tyler had to admit that she was right, he really looked like Mr. Roberto Suarez, like he had reincarnated or something, Tyler was not displeased with the look, he actually liked the way he looked older, he kind of wished he could get older quicker now.

He shook his head, ''Anyways, it is time for us to go!'' he declared and Lucia and Winn put their things away. ''Where to first?'' Husky asked. ''The bank is closer, let's try to investigate there'' Winn declared and the rest agreed. Tyler took Husky's hand and closed his eyes, he pointed his finger upwards and made a circle and a magic circle was drawn on the heavens, the circle dropped and when it phased through them they crossed over to the meta-world.

As soon as they crossed over and walked from the hill to the woods and followed the lights of the not so far away city they found a road and walked along it until they reached the city.

Seagull City was the mortal version of the city Tyler lived, and the meta world version was called Crystal Griff City, and while a lot of streets were empty on Seagull City at night except for the people who enjoyed the nightlife, Crystal Griff City was busting with that said nightlife.

Flying cars and motorbikes going up and down the heavens, wizards, witches, warlocks and sorcerers going up and down the streets talking happily among themselves, drinking and music all over town. ''This is more packed than I expected'' Tyler confessed. ''Yeah, people don't go to sleep early here'' Alex said grinning, ''Let's go! let's find that bank'' Alex marched forward and the rest followed.

.

Christopher had been staring at the stars while sighing every thirty seconds, he'd sneaked out of the dorms and was laying outside in the gardens. Of course Pamela came with him but she was utterly bored, at another sigh he gave out she finally closed the book she was reading and threw it on his face. ''Would you just shut the fuck up?! gods! I cannot with your angst right now'' she complained, Christopher groaned throwing the book away and sat on the grass. ''Well though luck, bitch, I don't know what else do you want me to do!'' he said rubbing his forehead a bit.

''You could stop being the bitch here and go and talk to him!'' she said, Christopher looked so annoyed at that ''He didn't want to listen to me, Pamela! he didn't even let me explain''

''Well of course! he was angry!''

''Well he could've just listen for a bit''

''Well you should've just listen to me in the first place and get rid of that fucking plan since day one!''

''Fuck that! fuck him and everyone, he didn't want to listen to me, he didn't let me explain!''

''No, fuck you! stop blaming others for your mistakes!''

''Ah, just go to hell with your bullshit''

''I will murder you! ''

''You know what, I don't even care, I didn't liked him that much.''

''Bullshit''

''You are bullshit...''

''Oh, yeah really mature, you dumb-ass prince''

He sighed ''Just... I need to be alone, I will see you later'' he said and got up from the grass, Pamela got up as well, ''Wait, Christopher, please...'' she tried to stop him but he kept walking towards the dorms. ''...Don't lose hope, you can still get him back'' she said before he turned the corner and he disappeared from her sight.

He walked through the empty hallways until he reached the dorms but he still didn't felt like going to sleep, he didn't want to see Winn's stupid face that reminded him what he didn't want to admit... that he messed up. He decided to take a detour to the gardens, he opened the door and was welcomed by the soft sounds of crickets and owls softly hooting. He walked along the shore of the small river they had on the garden, little fireflies flying away as he approached, finally he found a small secluded spot on a bench between two trees and sat there.

Closing his eyes he thought about all that he was feeling, he was feeling so angry at Tyler, he wouldn't listen to what he had to say but he also knew that he couldn't completely blame him, if it was him he wouldn't even look at Tyler if he were to pull something similar to what he did... then again he didn't thought Tyler would be capable to do what he did, making that plan, that list... it seemed so stupid now.

He was feeling so... ashamed? yeah this feeling was probably shame, he felt ashamed to being called out on the things he did, getting the attention of those first years and reacting just by giving up and acting like all was a plan. That sight of betrayal on Tyler's face brought him shame as well.

He was feeling sad, he found that once he knew he lost what little he had with Tyler, he realized that he felt sad that he didn't had him anymore. And he felt so greedy, he wanted to go back and hold him again, wanted more of those laughs directed at him, those smiles, those soft touches and little hugs, that voice talking about his problems and the relieved and hopeful sight he had whenever Christopher gave him advise.

He leaned down and rested his head on his fists. ''Goddammit Tyler...'' he sighed.

''Can't sleep?'' came a voice forward, Christopher jumped on his seat surprised and raised his head. In front of him, on another bench hidden by rose bushes was Zacharias Bennett looking at him with an unreadable expression. ''Oh, it's you, what are you doing here?'' Christopher asked surprisingly without any nasty tones or disdain. 

Zach looked at the roses for a bit, ''I can't sleep sometimes, so I come here, it relaxes me'' he said. ''I see... Sorry to bother you, then'' Said Christopher fully ready to leave him alone, he was still feeling that same shame for making a scene in front of the first years. 

''You can stay...'' Zach said softly but still monotonous, ''I don't dislike the company'' he said, Christopher actually stopped and sat back down. ''Are you not afraid or angry at me? For what I did to Suarez? I seem to recall you are one of his fans from that book for irregulars or whatever'' he said, Zach looked a tad shy about that and quickly denied with his head. ''W-while I did read the book I came here because Rory....Papa thought it was the best thing for me, I met Tyler Suarez later and I liked him, I don't think I want to be one of his fans though, I wanna be his friend'' he said blushing a bit. 

'What the hell with that guy attracting so many people' Thought Christopher but for some reason he didn't felt any jealousy to what Zach was saying, he understood that he wanted to be closer to Tyler as a friend. ''I see, then just be nice to him, he surrounds himself with nice people and protects them like they mean the world'' he laughed almost sarcastically. ''Just... don't hurt him when you get close to him'' Christopher said.

Zach looked at him directly into his eyes, his stare was not as piercing or judgmental as Winn's it seemed like he was trying to see something inside him, he didn't smile but it felt like he did when his eyes grew kind. ''You miss him'' he declared, Christopher avoided his gaze, it kind of annoyed him then that he was being read so easily by this kid, he felt warmth on his cheeks.

Zach kept his stare, ''For whatever it's worth, I don't think you meant to hurt him, or make that list'' he said, Christopher looked at him surprised and Zach kept talking ''I think you made it when you didn't knew you had feelings for him, you started to actually like him and your list got found out, am I right?'' he asked. ''How do you know that?'' Christopher asked but Zach came with another question. ''Do you love him?'' he asked as stoic as a rock.

Christopher started to couch, he choked on his own saliva, his face got so hot he started to blow air to himself with his shirt. ''L-love? n-no, it's nothing so deep, I just like him it's all!'' he said when he managed to regain some composure but then he realized he let some stranger know his feelings for Tyler, his face got red again. ''I mean! I don't'' he tried but Zach just titled his head still analyzing him. 

''What's so wrong about loving or liking him?'' he asked. ''There is nothing wrong, I just... you are wrong! I don't like him, not that way'' he tried again. ''But you miss him, you want to keep him close and... you seem so sad right now without him'' Zach said.

Christopher stopped, he looked at the kid, his eyes looked sad for him now, not pity or mock, just sincere sadness. ''How do you know, all of this... any of this?'' he asked, Zach just shrugged, ''I guess I can read people, and I don't like to see sad people and you seem really sad right now'' Zach got up from his seat, he slowly got closer and reached his hand on top of Christopher's head. ''There, there... things will be alright'' he said and again Christopher didn't found any mock on his voice, it seemed like he was really trying to cheer him up but he was probably... really socially inept!

Christopher's mouth twisted a bit and then it smirked and then a laugh came to his lips and more laughs. ''You, you are so weird!'' Christopher laughed gently taking Zach's hand away from his hair. ''Sorry! This works with Ophelia, I thought it would cheer you up'' he said nervously taking a step back. Christopher waved his hand dismissively, ''It's alright, it's alright, you made me laugh, thanks for that'' he said.

For some reason Christopher found the kid's company enjoyable, he didn't want to get away from him even if he was an irregular, he felt comfortable and even when the kid was socially inept it seems like he was really trying to talk to him and help him out. 

Then twelve bells started to softly ring around the garden. ''It's late, I should probably head back to bed'' Zach said, Christopher understood, ''Yeah, I will be here for a while more'' he said. Zach respectfully bowed and started to walk away but stopped, ''Tyler, he seems like a good person, he will forgive you, I know, if you really lo- like him, you should go for it, if not someone else might snatch him away'' he said and he didn't smile but Christopher could almost imagine a smirk on his face and Zach went away.

It was like some of his sorrow went away, like he had less weight on his shoulders, he thought about what Zach said and yes, it was true, Tyler was not perfect but he was cute, kind and caring, someone else might take him if he were to just sit there in his misery, maybe that ward of his was already trying to get close! he had no time to be willing on self pity, he had to fix his wrongs... he just needed to know how.

How was he going to win him back.

.

The squad was currently situated behind some garbage bins on an alley across the bank, they could see the bank from their perspective and was being guarded by a couple of agents that had two chained Wamperoos with them.

''Damn, this is not going to be as easy'' said Alex ducking behind the bins when one of the Wamperoos sneaked a peak towards them. 

The Wamperoos was a spirit-like beast in the shape of a cat with huge ears, sad eyes and sharp fangs, their colors were light blue and were always on four paws that had huge claws always out. Their long tails had a sharp end similar to the the tail of a scorpion but without the venom.

Tyler remembered a small lesson he learned last year when they talked about herbs that would help them against a Wamperoos, ''Does anyone have any cinnamon?'' he asked to the group, Winn nodded. ''Very good, Ty! the Wamperoos can't stand the smell and magical energies of cinnamon, and luckily I brought some extract with me'' Winn said and quickly searched his pocket pack and retrieved a vial with a clear brownish substance, even on the vial it smelled pleasantly as cinnamon.

''Alright, we can disable them, but now what is the plan? we get the guards and march inside the bank?'' Alex asked, Tyler took out his wand and tried to contact the tree, and the tree responded.

'Tyler Suarez, are you in one of the locations now?' the tree asked. ''Yes, we are across the street from it but there are guards, we can distract them but we don't know where to go from there, I mean, how do we get inside and then where do we go?'' he asked, 'You don't need to go from the main entrance, distract the guards and go to the alley west from the bank's entrance, you will find a lid that leads to a sewer, go through there' he said. ''Understood'' Tyler responded and then conveyed the message to the rest.

''Then let's form a plan'' Lucia said and quickly took out her CIM ''Take out yours as well. ''she said and then she quickly changed their shapes into small beads with a moon like shape, ''Put these in your ears, we will keep communication with this'' she said.

Tyler put on his CIM into his ear and they summoned the spell to activate it. ''Can you all hear me?'' Lucia asked and the rest nodded. ''Holy shit, this is like we are going to rob the bank or something'' Husky said, Tyler had to admit that it seemed like they were scheming a plan to rob the bank with these 'microphones' and the entering through a sewer thing.

''So, does anyone have anything in mind on how to distract the guards?'' Winn asked, Lucia nodded. ''Wanna get married?'' she asked and Winn looked strangely at her...  
.  
Winn and Winnifred were walking near the front of the bank with a bag of groceries, they were wearing scowls on their faces and wedding bands on their fingers, when they were on earshot of the officers they started the show. ''I don't know why you have to keep talking to her!'' Yelled Winnifred, Winn rolled his eyes. ''Stop that! she is just a friend from work'' he said back and she stopped in front of the guards, gasped overly-dramatically and pushed him a bit. ''Don't give me that shit! I saw you! you are way happier with her I know!'' she yelled, the officers looked at each other awkwardly, one sighed and gave the chain of his Wamperoos to the other and walked down the steps of the bank towards them. 

''I told you, she is just a friend!'' he shoved back and Winnifred gasped even more. ''How dare you!'' she then slapped Winn across the face, not even acting it, she honestly to god slapped him so hard the clapping sound reached the other side of the street.

''Geez, that must've hurt'' Lucia said on the microphone. 

The officer reached them. ''Alright, knock it off'' he said calmly, and Winnifred pushed Winn again and he pushed back, the officer got in the middle of them ''I said knock it off!'' he said firmly. ''I want the divorce!'' Yelled Winn. ''I want it more!"' she yelled back, trying to push him more, and Winn did the same, the officer looked over his shoulder to his partner. ''A little help?'' he said and the other officer came with both Wamperoos on their chains, the beasts growled a bit.

As soon as that officer came down the steps of the bank, Winnifred shoved hard once more and Winn dropped the groceries bag, on the ground fell apples, carrots, a bottle of goat milk and finally a small vial that was already open. The smell of cinnamon filled the place as the contents of the vial came pouring out. 

As soon as the beasts smelled the contents their eyes shot wide open, their claws started to scratch on the ground and then they started to jump up and down like a bull trying to throw someone on their back. ''Hey! calm down you two! what the hell is wrong with ya!'' the officer yelled but the beasts couldn't stand the smell, they both opened their fangs and with a single bite they tore the chains apart, they then charged down the street throwing away stands with food and people all around. ''Wait! damn it!'' one officer charged after them poofing himself to try to reach them. 

''Oh no!'' Winn said, Winnifred looked at the other officer who was there standing without knowing what to do. ''Go with him, we will run to the station and inform other officers!'' she said mockingly running to another street where just a couple blocks there was a station. ''We will go!'' Winn said going with her, the officer nodded and poofed himself towards the running Wamperoos that turned another street far away from them now.

as soon as the officers were out of sight the rest came out from the alley. ''Way to go, guys!'' Lucia came to them with a hug. ''Is your cheek alright?'' Ty asked Winn and he nodded silently but smacked Winnifred on the back of the head. ''Ouch! sorry I was acting!'' she said. ''Well that acting felt very real, idiot!'' Winn said back.

''We don't have time for this, let's go'' Alex urged. They all looked around to see if there were any witnesses but the people were just trying to help the people who fell trying to avoid the beasts running away. They took this chance to go to the alley and behind some garbage bins they found the lid. 

Winn pointed his wand to it ''Levitas'' he casted but a small barrier made the spell bounce and one of the garbage bins started to levitate instead, Winn quickly called off the spell before it would fly too much. ''Protective barrier, can't use spells on it'' Winn announced.

''Well let's just lift it up then'' Alex said and tried to pull the lid up but he found out that of course it was incredibly heavy. ''Get off'' Husky rolled his eyes with a playful smile on his face and bend his knees, he pulled on the lid and with only a small grunt from his mouth he lifted it up and set it aside. He flexed his bicep and winked at them, ''Show off'' said Winnifred with a grin, they all looked at the darkness down the hole and summoned light on their wands. ''Let's go'' Ty said and he took the lead climbing down the ladder then it was Husky, Alex, Winnifred, Winn and Lucia was last, she pulled a small garbage bin so the hole would stay closed and people wouldn't notice from the street that it was open.

Tyler covered his nose. ''This is gross'' he said, they were standing on a metal platform where grey water was flowing under them, the sewers had high ceilings, and the walls were made of bricks, they seemed as old as Paris catacombs and the smell was just awful. ''Alright tree, what do you want me to see'' he asked the wand and the tree responded. 'go further this way, and take a turn to the right, you will find a wall with a black mark, go there' the tree said and Tyler told the rest to follow him.

They quickly reached the place and Ty saw the black mark, it was like an unfinished magic circle with runes that he recognized. ''Hey, aren't these the runes for destruction?'' Ty asked them, Winn quickly looked at the runes of the unfinished circle and he agreed. ''Yes, if these were to be combined a destructive spell can be situated on this wall'' 

The tree spoke. 'This place, it seemed they wanted to use it as an alternative way to escape if things went south, at the other side of this door there is another small wall and after that there are the basements of the bank' It said and Tyler told the rest.

''Wait, so they wanted to use this route to escape?'' asked Lucia. ''I guess, if things went south and they couldn't poof themselves out of the scene of the crime they would've use this route instead'' Said Winnifred thinking a bit and then looked around the area, there were two ways that each lead to intersections where the paths got divided. ''So... in that case, they would've taken one of these paths! if we can find which we could find another clue'' She said.

Alex agreed, ''That is right! if we were to find the path they would've taken then we can find a clue, hell, we could even found a hideout!'' Alex said excitedly, Winn however hummed whiled thinking a bit. ''It is a possibility but there are many entries and exits on these sewers, if they were to use this place to escape then they could've get out anywhere'' he said.

Apparently the tree heard this and spoke. 'The flies on these place know where the people who made this mark came from, I can lead you some of the way but after that they don't have much information' the tree said, ''Lead us there'' Tyler said and the tree started to indicate the way as he walked and explained the rest what the tree said.

They walked for a long while, taking various turns and twists, they found several stairs that led further down and several narrow pathways that lead to more stairs going down in a spiral. ''Gods, they really took a long way to get there'' Said Winnifred. ''Well, if you think about it they must've done it so if they took this route to run away the officers would have a hard time trying to get them'' Said Winn. ''Yeah this place is a maze'' Agreed Husky.

Husky looked around for a moment and smelled something out of place. ''Do you guys smell that?'' he asked the group. ''Shit?'' asked Alex but Husky shook his head. ''No, there is a strong weird smell other than the sewer smell. Like some cologne or something'' he said, the rest tried to catch something but could only smell the putrid smell of the sewers. ''Nothing, you sure you smelled something?'' Tyler asked, Husky nodded ''Positively'' he said.

They had to continue the path and Husky seemed more overwhelmed by the smell he hid his nose under the collar of his shirt and then the tree announced, 'We reached the place the flies and cockroaches told me about' 

''The tree says we reached the place they started to see them'' He said to the squad and then tried to shine his light as further as he could down the path forward, ''Want to try and see?'' He asked the rest and they all agreed to it. ''We came this far, didn't we?'' Alex said. ''Man, I'm gonna be so pissed if I had to crawl on these sewers and dind't found anything, let's keep going'' Lu said.

They kept walking down the path, ''Ugh, the smell is disgusting! it smells like the sewers and that cologne mixed together!'' Husky complained and then they reached something completely out of place. 

There was a big mine-cart on a rail and just behind it there was an structure like the end of a cave where a greenish light was shining and they could see reflections of water. They looked at each other and walked past the cart to go to that light and they stopped as they saw a huge drop.

There was a huge drop and a enormous cavern with water reflecting further down, the rail of the card was near the ceiling and they could see that at the other far end of the cavern that was probably the size of two or three football fields, there was another cavern that led to more sewers. ''What, a cavern?'' Winnie asked looking at the huge drop down. Alex on his part stepped a little bit on the rail and noticed it was pretty steady, ''Should we... try to go further?'' he asked, they could probably walk on the narrow rail being very careful not to fall and reach the other end. 

''I would advise against it'' Winn said, starting to look for something on his pocket pack. ''Why?'' Tyler asked and Winn responded nonchalantly ''Giant crocs'' he said, the rest quickly looked down and started at the steady water on the bottom of the cavern, there was a big rock formation, Tyler looked at it for a bit and noticed it had spines all over and then he noticed that it was... breathing. 

''Holy shit! a giant croc!'' He said as the gargantuan beast started to move sinking in the water, it took like five seconds before the whole body sank under it. Winn suddenly took out a sandwich out of his pocket pack and then gave it to Winnifred. ''Let's check how big he is and how much he can jump, throw it as high and as further as you can'' he said and Winnifred nodded still looking shocked at the giant moving beast they just saw, she took the sandwich and with her best throwing method she sent it flying, it flied up the line of the rail and then when it started to lose height a grumbling sound came from below, huge splatters of water went everywhere and the huge beast jumped from the waters and took the 'miniature in comparison' sandwich swallowing in a bit and it dropped to the water leaving another huge splash.

The rest were speechless. ''I don't think you can charm this one so it can let us go through, right?'' Winn said and Tyler quickly shook his head. The tree spoke. 'Figured as much, if this beast is here then it would be impossible to go further, it is time for us to leave then' it said.

''What, leave? but we didn't found anything really useful!'' Tyler said. 'I have something that can help, now take the trip to your house and we will speak there' the tree said. Tyler sighed feeling sort of defeated but before he could say more Husky growled, they looked and he was at the mine-cart growling at something inside while covering his nose. 

''Husky?'' Tyler asked and Husky reached inside and took out from the cart a brown glove. ''This is the thing that smells like cologne! ugh, it's filling the whole sewers, I can't stand those two smells mixing'' he said and threw it to Tyler, he caught it on his hands and it was true, it did smelled a bit as some perfume, he passed it to the rest and they held it close to their noses noticing the same. ''Yeah, it smells but it's so faint, you were able to smell this since the stairs further back?'' Tyler asked and Husky nodded looking a bit green like he was about to puke.

''J-just get it away from me'' he said, Tyler took it, ''This is a clue! whoever had this on their power crossed this railway with the giant croc and is probably connected to the ones that attacked the bank. Good job Husky!' he said and quickly put it away on his pocket pack.

''Sure is impressive how you were able to smell that, it must be another ward power!'' Lucia said, Husky was still covering his nose but nodded. ''I guess...'' he said heaving a bit. ''Alright, let's leave before the doggy starts to vomit'' Alex teased and Husky sent him a stare wanting to smack him but he was still feeling pretty bad.

They walked back since they were really further down the first path they took and as soon as they found it they climbed some ladder where Husky slowly pushed the lid open, checked if there was someone around and since the coast was clear they went up.

Husky sighed as he closed the lid after everyone came out. ''Finally! I was so sick of those sewers!'' he said and then went to smack Alex on the head. ''Doggy?!" he said crossing his arms. ''Ouch! it was a joke, a joke!'' Alex said rubbing his bead. 

Tyler rolled his eyes laughing a bit and looked around, he didn't recognize where they were, it was an empty road in the middle of nowhere, there was a road that led to some houses further away and on the other side there was nothing else. ''Hey guys, let's cross over, we need to go to my house and I can't recognize anything here anyways, I might be able to recognize where I am if we go to the mortal world'' he said, the rest agreed and they went to hide behind a tree before crossing over.

Tyler and the rest walked back to the road and he quickly noticed they were at the park near the pond where they had fun swimming on the holy week vacation last year. ''I recognize this place! let's go'' he smiled and they began the walk.

.

They reached Tyler's house quickly enough... well... they reached the burnt rubble and ashes that used to be his house, Tyler looked at the empty lot.

Husky put his hand on his shoulder. ''You alright?'' he asked. ''Yeah, I will be'' Tyler responded and took out his wand. ''Tree, we are here, what do you want me to look?'' he asked and the tree hummed. 'But child, this is not your home' it said, Tyler huffed, ''Yeah, no kidding, it was burnt to the ground'' The tree hummed again. ''No, child, your other home, you need to go to your other home on the meta-world, your family's house, the house that used to be your great grandfather's'' he said. Tyler opened his eyes as big as plates. ''I have another house?'' he asked surprised. 

'Cross over, you will see' the tree spoke.

Tyler looked around and the street was empty, he informed the rest and they crossed over the realms....

Now they were not on the sidewalk of an empty burnt lot but they were in front of a huge house painted in black and white, it looked to be four stories high with a small tower with a dome structure on the left side, the architecture seemed between Victorian or Gothic and it looked empty and dark even between the light posts it was in between, a mall black spiky fence was in front of it locked and it had a small sign that read 'Suarez Family'

''This is my great grandfather's?'' he asked. 'Go inside, the house will recognize you as a Suarez and will let you in, it has security methods but once it recognizes you as member of the family you will be able to come and go inside as it pleases with as many guests as you please. Go, reach your great grandfather's study on the first floor and on his desk you will find a vault that only a Suarez can open, you will find what you need in there' it said.

Ty explained it to the rest. ''I see, we have a similar system at home'' Alex said, ''Let's try with the fence! just place your hand there and they should allow you to go through'' he added.

Ty placed his hand on the entrance of the fence, just above the Suarez name plate and for a second it vibrated, a wave went around the fence and then the lights of the house light up and the color that seemed so cold and abandoned before now seemed inviting and warm.

Under the name plate another one dropped that said 'Welcome home, Tyler' and the small fence door opened. ''Well talk about automatic doors'' whispered Lucia to nobody in particular. ''I guess, he knew someone in the family was going to be born magical'' Tyler smiled a bit at the rest.

They walked a small path of cement covered and broken on the edges by wild grass and climbing plants until they reached the door. Tyler tried to open it but it was locked ''Eh, I thought it was going to let me in'' he said. Husky looked at the old door with several metal parts and a knocker with what it looked like a closed eye painted in crusty gold paint on top. ''Try knocking?'' he suggested. Tyler shrugged and knocked with the knocker twice.

Suddenly the eye opened looking lazy like it was being awakened from a long slumber and hazily looked around at them until it fell on Tyler. Tyler nervously looked at the eye and waved at it a bit, the eye opened wide like it recognized him and then a clicking sound came from inside, the door was then opened.

They went inside the door quickly and were greeted by a pretty lit up hallway with a big red carpet on the floor with several blue embroideries walls made of wood naked except for a few faded pictures, tall lights that came from a long cable on the ceiling and the 'light-bulbs' were not actually light-bulbs but it was some sort of glass ball with several holes in the shapes of small designs with a shining steady flame on the inside. The door closed behind them and Lucia looked at it for a second ''It seemed like it knew you!'' she mentioned and walking a bit inside Tyler looked at the first picture, it was an image of his great grandfather while he was a child, the picture was old and the boy was on top of a large dog riding him with a smile.

Another picture next to that one, was an image of his great-grandfather as an adult, the mustache he had on the picture that Winn shown him earlier was gone, he was in a black suit and he was holding the hand of a gorgeous lady with a kind smile, Tyler knew that that must've been his great grandmother... weird... until now nobody ever mentioned her and this seemed to be the first time he'd ever seen even a glimpse of her.

Alex noticed something on the image and looked at Tyler. ''I see, the eye probably thought you were your great grandpa, you two really look the same without that mustache'' he mentioned, Tyler smiled as his eyes still fell on that picture and one the image of the two together. ''They seem so happy'' he looked at the wedding picture and a gentle hand fell on his shoulder, Tyler looked and it was Husky. ''We can come back later if you want, but right now we are on a mission'' he said. Tyler grinned and nodded, there was some curiosity inside him, he didn't knew he had another house that his great grandfather owned, he didn't knew him and of course he didn't knew this place but somehow it felt like home, like his home back on the mortal world before it got burnt, he wanted to cherish this feeling and try to find out more about his long gone family but right now he needed to find his own family.

The squad walked together trying different doors that were on the long hallway, first was a door that lead to a spacious living room, there was another connecting door that they took and led to the kitchen. ''I don't think we are on the right way'' Winnie said and they walked back to the hallway, they took another door and it led to a bathroom. ''Nope, not this one'' said Alex and they went back to try another at the end of the hallway, before opening it Tyler noticed that turning right to the hallway there were some stairs that lead to the second floor but he didn't had the time to look up yet. They opened the door and bingo! it was the study. 

''Alright tree, we are here! what do I need'' he asked to his wand and the tree spoke. 'The cockroaches on this house spoke of a cabinet on the desk that would open only for the Suarez family members' Tyler went to the desk, he didn't had much time to look around, the rest followed him and he started to look on the desk, he quickly found the cabinet and touched it, as on cue a clicking sound came and the thing opened by itself. Tyler looked inside the dusty space and took one single scroll that was inside. 'Between the many experiments and creations your great grandfather made there is one that he helped design to help the entire country' Tyler opened the scroll. 'He, along some other constructors and workers, created a system for the countries waste' The tree said as Tyler and the others saw no other than the blueprints of the sewers, it came with specifications for sizes, dimensions and spaces and more importantly with a well formed map.

''This is it! we can find where the ones who attacked the bank would've run off to with this!'' Tyler said excitedly, Winn took a closer inspection of the plans, there were several blueprints and maps all over then, he quickly found the one of the city. ''This!'' he pointed to a particular building drawn on the prints, ''This is the bank, if we follow the path that we took...'' he followed with his finger and the best of his memory the long path they took when they were down there. ''Here!'' he said and they found a small drawing of the underground cavern where they found the giant croc that was labeled 'the croc's pit'

''Brilliant, so let's just follow the path and we will be able to find maybe a hideout or some clue as to where they would've gone'' Husky said excitedly but as soon as they were going to follow the path the fires on the bulbs light off and they were on complete darkness.

''What the hell?!'' asked Winnie. ''A blackout?'' asked Husky, ''Magicals don't have electric energy, something else lit off these lights'' Said Lucia. ''This must be some sort of alert, on my house if someone who is not supposed to be at our mansion is inside all the lights would light off to warn us'' Alex said and they heard some whisper on the hallway outside. ''Be quiet!'' Tyler whispered hushing them all.

They slowly ducked under the desk and could hear some light footsteps and whispers. 'Try not to fucking stomp all over the place' a female voice came. 'Sorry! the place is too old, Justice' a male voice whispered back. Under the desk Tyler could see all the way to the door and under it he saw some lights that were coming probably from their wands.

Suddenly the lights stopped in front of the study and the door busted open. ''SMACK agents, get out with your hands up!'' came a strong male authoritative voice, Tyler jumped a bit and could see someone coming inside the room. ''I said, come out with your hands up or I will be forced to curse!'' the man said and Tyler looked at the rest, they looked so nervous and scared... SMACK agents, they didn't knew how they caught them but they were caught...

Tyler nodded at them and slowly the whole squad stood up with their hands up. ''That's it, hands where I can see them... don't try anything, give me your wands and...'' the man stopped when another person came into the room also pointing her wand at them. ''Wait...what?'' she said looking at Tyler directly. ''Mr... Suarez?'' she asked.

Suddenly a sound like sliding metal came from out of nowhere and rising from the ground came several metal bars that in less than a second formed a metal cage that got the intruders. The man tried to shoot from the wand he had attached on his wrist but the thing didn't went through the metal bars and neither between them the spell just dissipated in thin air when it came close to the cage. The woman tried to do another spell but her wand made a sound like it was coughing and looked like a balloon that got the air out of it. ''Anti spell cage, Mr. Suarez invention'' she said almost to herself and she went forward clinging to the bars.

She looked directly to the group of what it looked like young college students and her eyes fell again on who looked like a young Roberto Suarez. But she used logic, she always used it. ''Mr. Suarez disappeared a long time ago, no one trace of a body or any indications of violence were found on the last place his mortal grandson saw him and he was already an old man when this happened so tell me, who are you? why do you look so much like him?'' she asked.

Tyler looked at his friends, he quickly took the plans and scroll them and put it on his pocket pack. ''Hey! she asked you a question, stop moving!'' yelled the man but he was having trouble translating any kind of authority from the cage he was at. The woman looked at him like he was stupid and then back to the young people. ''You look so much like him, I didn't known him of course but my mother studied under him before he disappeared. You are a relative? that's how you were able to come into this house without triggering any alarms?'' she asked Tyler as he was quickly looking for an escape route, the door was now being blocked by the cage that formed to trap the agents so their only option was to get out from the window that was next to the desk.

''The window guys, quickly!'' he said, Alex nodded and ran to the window and opened with ease. ''Hey! hold on!'' yelled the man, ''Chance just stop it!'' the woman yelled at him and then directer her sight to them. ''That must be it, right? after all once we pointed our wands at you with the intent to shoot if provoked the house protected you and made this cage, that is a security system Roberto Suarez created and it was later used on prisons as security measures all around the world'' she said trying to get their attention as the first one jumped out the window. ''My.. my name is Justine Justice! I'm an ex member of the SMACK and I work as a detective now for the officers, if you really are family of Roberto Suarez please help us out! I'm trying to find Roberto's grandson and his wife, they were taken from their home weeks ago. If what you found is a clue, or anything please trust us!'' she almost pleaded to them.

Tyler who stood behind with Husky so they could jump last stopped on his feet... the voice inside his head spoke to him.  
T͏̮͇̪͙̦r͔̬͙͖̰̻͡u̲̖̦͔̻̝̦s̻̪͎͇̬̺̮t̰̤̜̫̖̟̕?̡̯̞͉  
̶̮͕̫̺t̞͘ḫe͓̣̭̙̤͙̟y͚̮̟̟ ̱͔̙͠h̡̙͍a̸̮̣̠̼v̵͚̱̗̩̬̹̞e̟̠͙̜̣͞n̴͚'̲̥̖̞̰̝t̸̘̞͍̭͖ ͓̰̮̻̖̘f̝̯͙̹o̱̪̭̝͖̠u̧̝̝͖̼̺͓n͔d̡̺̪ ̸̗͙̹͙̩a҉̟̟̦͙n̶̹̰y͉t͔̫̬͇̕ḥ̨̫͎̣ͅi̸̩ṋ̫͈̪̱̲͢g̺͎!͓̺̝̥̘  
̞̥̺̹̫̖i̜n ͈̱̫̲͖̼̫a̖̬̝̝̲͓ ̭̼d̥̤̩̼a̡̬̖̦̰y̲̕ y̭͢o͚̩̲̘͈u̺͖ ͍̲̳̜̦͞f̡̭̰͔͚͍o͔͈͢ͅu҉̜n̸̻̺̥͈̮ḓ͍͍̟͍̰͝ ̷̻͈̮̤̣͚̜a͍̥̭l̵̤͇̙͓l ͈o̧͎͕̳f͔̠͢ͅ ̸̞̟̗ͅt̶̼ͅh̬͚̗̬i̼͈s̗̮̬̳ ̸̬̰̟̠͍ͅa͙̹͝n̗̥d̹̙̟͖̮ ̰̼͘t̯̩̭͚h͓̲͡e͈̻͈̮̠y̘̣̱͍ ͇̦h̸̗̞͇̫̦̦ͅa̜̭͉̜v̭̥̣̰̫e҉n͟'̰͖͎̬̳̝͓͜t͏̼̺̦̖͓̯̻ ̠̙̟͞f̵̫̟̥o̢̹u̸͇͉͚̪͍̭n͉͉̙̬d̖̳ ̭͝a͍̟n̗͕̻̙͍y̮͚͠t̤̻͎͍͎̹̕h͕͎͜i̤̼n͙̮͓̱g̜͜ ͔̟̮̭to̦ ̙̼̩̮̙͎͈h̝͎̭e̲̞̝̳̗̕l̥͎͉p̧͓̳ ̢͓͕̙̰͔͓̙y͚̥̘̞̻̪̦o͏ư͚͖̩̦͍͉ͅ

''Trust? you haven't found anything!'' Tyler yelled at them, the woman, Justine seemed taken back by this. ''In one day! just one day, we found clues that would lead to my fa... this family missing! and you had weeks now to find leads and you have nothing!'' Tyler yelled at them. Husky held his shoulders. ''Come on, we need to leave'' he said but Tyler didn't heard him. ''And what about the boy? the son of the missing couple, had you spoke to him? had you seen him and told him anything? had you even lied to him and promise him that you would find his parents! that boy is going crazy right now, dying every day because his parents could be dead for all we know!'' Tyler yelled again, Husky looked like he was smelling something and sniffed a bit. ''There are... people coming, we need to get out now!'' he said.

But Ty was not done. ''You haven't even faced him! you haven't even seen him and tell him you are the one investigating this... how is he supposed to believe in anything now?'' Tyler said his voice growing sad now, he looked at them with utter disappointment and jumped out the window with Husky coming after him.

.  
Justine sighed and sat down on the floor resting the back of her head behind the bars. ''Almost got them, the security system that locked us here surely alerted the officers and they will be here in a minute'' Justine sighed.

Just a couple hours ago they got an alert, they were in the office creating a potion to track people but it was having a hard time brewing as it needed to be on the fire for at least seven days before using when they heard the screams of citizens who claimed some Wamperoos went rampage on the street. After the station dealt with it and Justice and Pride quickly learnt where they went rampage they ran to the bank to see if someone took this opportunity to attack the place.

They didn't found any explosions and no signals of forced entrance but Justine quickly found a groceries bag thrown on the floor and the broken vial with cinnamon extract, she quickly interrogated the officers and they told them about the couple who were fighting and they recalled that no couple went to inform them about the problem with the Wamperoos at the station. Both Chance and Justice started to look around for anything out of place and they found the alleyway, there was nothing unusual but Justine's trained eye quickly spotted that a trash bin was a little bit tilted to the side, she found it out and investigated it and found the open lid that led to the sewers. 

Without even calling for backup she jumped inside and Chance went after her and the summoned a light to track anyone who was there in the last 24 hours. It was different from the potion they were making because the potion was going track people in a different way. Quickly they found footprints that were lit up on the floor by the light she summoned and they followed them for a while, after a while they found the cave with the giant croc and that the footprints went back and out of the sewers and then they disappeared behind a tree. Something was wrong, the footsteps wouldn't disappear just like that, maybe someone poofed themselves out of place and she would be unable to track where they went but just to check they crossed over to the mortal realm and bingo! they found more steps.

They continued to follow after a while and finally found that they ended on the burnt lot that used to be the Suarez' home and the steps disappeared again, they crossed again and they were in front of Roberto Suarez home... Both Justice and Chance were surprised, they thought about trying to find clues at Roberto Suarez' home when the Suarez couple disappeared but they didn't had access to the security system that protected the house and didn't knew if the security system was one that only allowed family members to go in or was a different one so they had to give up until they found a way to get in...

But now they were led there and the gate was open, they saw the lights inside on and the footsteps that led them inside. Quickly readying their wands they walked forward, Justice used a spell to confuse the eye dooknob and it opened but as soon as it did the security system was triggered and the lights went out. They used their lights to follow the footsteps until they found a door and decided to go in and they had the discussion with those young strangers.

Justine was now trying to think with all her might if the Suarez couple had other family members that were not their son, but the boy Tyler Suarez had no brothers or sisters, no cousins except some long distance ones on his mother's side and they were not magical and by now she figured this security system only let family in but those cousins didn't had the Suarez last name so they wouldn't be able to come inside this place... also they didn't had any way to be so physically similar to a young Roberto Suarez the inventor of the cages they were in right now and many things more.

''What's on your mind?'' Chance asked sitting as well, he seemed to relax as they heard officers approached, they watch them on the cage and both Justice and Pride waved sarcastically. ''There should be a key somewhere in the house, the suspects ran away anyways'' she said, they nodded and started a search for the key. 

Justice then looked at Chance. ''What that young man said is true, I haven't talked to the kid... but..'' she trailed off, Chance knew what she was trying to say. ''I get it, you wanted to bring him his parents as soon as possible, that would be better than give him empty promises... but Justine we haven't found anything concise yet, I believe that kid should be informed'' he said sliding a bit to sit next to her. 

''Oh, I get it, but I suck at talking to children'' 

''And some adults''

''Fuck off'' she waved dismissively at him, he grinned and looked around. ''It makes me kind of angry, you know, them telling us the truth, that we haven't found anything really'' he said, Justine nodded a little bit more to herself than acknowledging Chance's statement....

Then she started to think, the gears moving inside her head, she looked at the cage and thought about Roberto Suarez, she then thought about his inventions like the cage and why would those young suspects were here to find, they didn't look like rioters, they seemed to be interested in finding the Suarez as much as she was so they must've found some clue in here... but what... following what she knew about the Suarez' inventions she suddenly remembered where she was tonight.

The sewers... She stood up suddenly ignoring completely how Chance almost rested his head on his shoulder but failed and fell to the ground, she went to the metal bars and started to shake them. ''Quickly! find that damn key!'' she yelled to anyone who could hear her. ''Justice what's wrong?'' Said Chance, groaning as he got up. 

''The sewers, Chance! the sewers! remember we saw that weird mark on the wall at the sewers, if I remember correctly they lead directly where the bank should be situated! if someone were to do something at the bank and then attempt an escape they would've done it through the sewers! and who invented the system for the sewers?'' she said and Chance quickly caught up. ''Mr. Roberto Suarez! those suspects had some scrolls that they took with them, they should be onto something! if we follow that lead...'' he said and Justice completed the sentence. ''...Then we should be able to find some clues down there! we just need another copy of the prints'' she went to yell and shake the bars again she didn't had the time to be locked in here or to be guilty about her failures, she needed to find a lead now!

.

The flight home for the squad was a little quiet, the spell that was covering their identities was long gone and they were just flying quietly. Today was definitely a success, from their investigation to the loot they took from the house to them running away to the mortal world to escape the incoming reinforcements this night was definitely a success... but even then, Tyler seemed completely out of it, his mind seemed to go back to the exchange of words he had with that detective woman. 

He felt so angry at her, he was so insulted that he claimed to a strager that she was trying to find his parents but she hasn't even faced him and told him anything.

He felt Husky's chin on his shoulder. ''You know... you puff your cheeks when you are angry'' he said and Tyler hummed in response. ''But you get really quiet when you are thinking sad'' he said and Tyler sighed but he still kept quiet.

Husky did something he did a while ago but he hasn't done in a while, he placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder and hugged him from behind. ''I don't know what to say, I never know what to say when you are sad, I just stay by your side and hope that is enough but now I feel like I want to say that... if they don't know anything and don't have a lead to where your parents are... at least we do, we are ahead of them and we will find them'' Husky told him, no, he assured him!

Tyler thought about it for a bit and he knew he was right... they were definitely going to find them!

.

In the end the squad started to form a plan, on the following days, taking care of not being noticed by any other students, they laid down a route to travel at least three nights a week to some of the exits indicated after the giant croc's cave, they found nothing in many of the trips, a few empty roads, some abandoned houses that they searched through looking for secret passages on both the mortal and the meta world but in the end they found nothing and they still had many more marks on the map that they needed to check.

Tyler was trying to write a plan along with finishing his homework on black magic on an empty space on one of the boy's common room when someone came from behind and covered his eyes, the unmistakable voice of Dean Li came ''Guess who'' he said and Tyler laughed a bit. ''Only the team's captain?'' Tyler guessed and Dean made a noise with his mouth like a buzzer indicating the wrong answer. ''Wrong! Dino is also here'' he said, Ty turned around and he saw Dino who nodded at him with his usual angry face.

Ty smiled at both, ''Hi guys, what are you doing here?'' he asked and both looked at each other. ''Ty, auditions are today! we came to see if you wanted to come with us'' Dean said, Tyler got up from his seat, ''What? auditions for the magical choir?'' he asked.

''That's right! as a member last year you are already on the team but as tradition sometimes the old members always audition'' he grinned, Tyler's face fell a bit. ''I... I still can't sing'' he told them. ''That's alright! I believe you will like to hear the guys who will try out today, and I believe it would cheer you up as well'' Dean said but Tyler hummed. ''I don't know, maybe, but I'm kind of busy so maybe it would be better if...'' Ty didn't finished talking because in a second he was being lifted up in the air as the huge boy Dino grabbed him and put him over his shoulder.

''Bullshit! you will come with us and you will stop sulking, let's go'' he said and walked with Tyler on his shoulder like he weighted nothing. ''Hey! h-hey! Dino, let me down!'' he tried squirming but Dino didn't budge one bit, they walked out of the dorms, Tyler looked at Dean who was smiling calmly. ''Dean! tell him to let me go!'' Tyler demanded but his voice was more embarrassed than demanding so Dean shrugged his shoulders.

Tyler knew it was useless but he still tried to get out of Dino's arm, he covered his face with his hands when he noticed students on the hallway looking at them. Between his fingers he noticed a scene a bit far from them, outside on the grass were two people, Virgil and Dante, they seemed to be in a heated discussion and knowing what happened last time with Dante's body heating up like he was burning, he had to go and see what was up.

Sure Dante didn't liked him but he had the urge to go to them, they were irregulars after all and Virgil really felt bad for what happened so Tyler wanted to check on him as well. He tapped on Dino's shoulder and maybe it was because he wasn't trying to run away but he actually paid attention this time instead of ignoring him and keep walking. ''Hey Dino, let me go, I need to check something before we keep going'' he said and Dino seemed convinced enough by his calm tone because he let him down in a second.

Ty walked out through a nearby door and went quickly to the scene where he caught glimpses of the conversation. ''It's just that I can't understand why you keep going after him?!'' yelled Dante. ''I thought you didn't want me coming after you anymore? besides it's not even like that'' Said Virgil on a threatening calm manner that had so much anger hidden. ''Oh, I know how it is, but this fucking jealousy game you are playing is not going to work! I just don't want you making a fool of yourself by going to a stupid audition and failing at it'' Dante said with venom. ''You don't know what I want or how I can do things! who are you to tell me I can't succeed?'' Virgil seemed actually offended at that.

Tyler finally came closely enough to say anything. ''Hey, hey guys stop!'' he said getting in the middle of them who seemed just close enough to throw fists at each other. Virgil looked at him and quickly blushed in embarrassment and looked away. ''What are you doing here?'' Virgil asked not looking at him. Dante rolled his eyes and seemed angrier now. ''What the fuck are you doing here?!"' he yelled.

Virgil shot a sight at Dante. ''Dante if you down back down right now...'' 

''What? are you going to hit me?!''

''I just might!''

''Just because I don't want to deal with your new fucking boyfriend!''

''Tyler is nothing of the sort!''

Tyler felt lost on the conversation so he did what he could best and from the useful trick he learned from both Rory and Mr. Lopez, he lifted both his arms and pointed at them with both his index and pinky fingers and said. ''Zip it!'' and two big zippers closed on both their mouths. Virgil looked at the zipper completely in shock and Dante looked ready to explode.

''Listen, idiots!'' Tyler shouted surprising both and even surprising himself by the authority his voice had. ''You both really have shit to figure out, obviously at some extent you care for each other'' Ty looked at Dante. ''You know he apologized for you? for the things you said to me? he obviously cares about you enough to push pride away and apologize to someone who seems to be rude all the time, aren't you even obliged to cut him some slack?'' he asked and Dante stopped trying to open the zipper by brute force and looked at Virgil. 

Then Tyler looked at Virgil, ''And you obviously care enough for him to still remain by his side, so try to talk to him, both should talk instead of yelling... friends fight and they hate each other for a bit sometimes but if you truly care for each other you will have the sense to talk'' Ty looked back at Dante. ''I know you believe my words were bullshit, but if there is something I learned last year is that is your friends who are going to lift you up when everything goes to shit... believe in them if you want them to listen and believe in you... I don't think for a second you are a bad person, Dante... you just need to give the words in your head time to calm down before letting everything out and hurt people'' he said, Dante looked away, he seemed bothered but not nearly as angry as before.

Ty snapped his fingers and both zippers disappeared. ''V, I overheard you both talking and I think you wanna audition?'' he asked and Virgil nodded. ''Do so and believe in yourself, I will be there and give a big thumbs up'' he grinned, Virgil looked at him and a smile crept on his face.

Tyler started to walk away...''Just, believe also in each other, I can tell you guys care and want something good for both, I honestly think you can have it if you work hard!'' he grinned finally walking back to where both Dino and Dean were.

,  
''This is why... I care for Tyler'' Virgil said looking him going away, he gave Dante a small sight. ''...I hate you, you confuse me, you made me cry so many times I don't even know if I can cry anymore, you pushed me so many times but the thing I hate you the most is that you still make me care'' he said, Dante didn't looked at him but he did spoke. ''He says... things so out of place, he doesn't know what we are fighting about but he came rushing and he could tell that... we do care for each other... why did he do it?'' he said.

Virgil shrugged. ''I guess some people are meddlesome idiots but among those there are some good idiots'' V smiled. Dante still refused to look at him, to look at anyone. ''V... I can't give you what you want, I just can't'' he said. Maybe V for once understood that even in his stubbornness, Dante was trying with the many fights he had inside. ''Wanna go see me fail?'' V joked, Dante let out a breathy laugh. ''I take back what I said, your voice is good... just try not to get stage fright or something'' 

.  
Ty entered the music room with Dino still carrying him for a reason, he managed to tell his friends to come with him when he found them on the hallway and they were laughing a bit at seeing him being carried with such ease. Quickly Tyler noticed the place had a few more people than he expected.

He could see his old teammates seating and in front of them he saw... all the first year irregulars. Zach, Ophelia, Gracie, Gabriel, Vice, and surprisingly even Amy and Nelly were there seating checking their nails like their polish needed to be reapplied and as Dino moved with him he could see that entering after them came Dante and Virgil, still looking a bit mad at each other but not nearly as much as before.

Dino went near the middle row of seats and sat Tyler before nodding and walking away with Dino towards the rest of the team. Tyler's friends sat next to him still laughing a bit. He playfully rolled his eyes and saw to his right to where Dino had seated him and noticed he was next to...Christopher.

''Oh fuck me!'' Tyler said both shocked and annoyed at seeing the smug face Christopher was giving him. ''Sure, when and where'' he said with a purr on his voice, Tyler felt so annoyed he got up from his seat but at that moment the clapping hands of Mr. Heraldo Harmonia, the music and magic teacher came.

''Welcome! Oh, I'm so glad to see so many students wanting to try for the team!'' he said from the stage and his eyes fell on Tyler. ''Mr. Lopez please sit down, is rude to do that in a theater'' Tyler was about to say something but Mr. Harmonia waved his finger. ''No, no, I don't want to hear it, just sit'' he said and Tyler puffed his cheeks and sank on his seat, he moved a bit to his left where Lucia was, trying to get his body as far away from Christopher as he could.

''So! some of the old members wanted to show you a few numbers before we begin the auditions, you know, just to calm everyone's nerves'' Mr. Harmonia said and called Dean first to the stage. 

Tyler was having such a hard time hearing Dean's ballad as Christopher was leaning against him and whispering annoying shit at him. ''Didn't thought you would come, what, you can sing now?'' he asked but Tyler could only hear the mocking on his voice.

Christopher on his part was just trying to tease a bit, he came with a new set of attacks to try to get Tyler to talk to him again, first was to tease him a bit just to get him to speak to him and after that he would be able to sneak some conversation into it. ''Come on Suarez, I know you have some air in some lungs, wanna scream it to the audience?'' he said smiling a bit. 

Tyler greeted his teeth, he could hear the voices again.

H̷͕̬̝e ̫̭i͈̠̘̖͎̩s͍ ̻m̮̯͖͓o̷̠̪̙͕c̡k͏̯̱̘̝̦i̙ͅn̺͞g̝̯͔ ͇̘y̥͔͕̭o̟͕͖͔̩͇u̘̬̘

''I mean, sure you won't be as good as I am but maybe you can be a backup singer this time'' 

H̤̝e̡̗ ̵͍̠͓͈ͅd̶̪͈o͖͞e̺͕̮̪͙̣͡ͅs̙̫̬͔͖ͅn̪̱̫̙͎͜'t͓̥̩̠ ̞͉̦ḵ̢̤n̫͟o̫͉͠w̟̩̮̖̞̰͇ ͏̱̻͕̥̹̭w͓̥h̭͉͔̦̰̰͞at ҉͖͙̫̮ͅyo͉͓̯͓u̶̩͈ ̰̗̻̯aṛ͚e ̰̪c͖̗͓̼̝ͅa͍̝͈̹p̨̙̥̘̭̖a̹̺͚͍̳b̡̩l̸ȩ͈̬͓̥ͅ ͍͚̫̟̫o̬f̮̤͎͉̱

''Christopher just, shut the fuck up!'' whispered Lucia at him with the rest of the squad sending ugly sights at him but CHristopher ignored him.

''What mortal song are you going to sing this time?''

H͏͎̖̲e͍̲̕ ̫͎ḍ̡ọ̕e̥s̟̜̟̥̘̜͡n̸'̬̫̮t̖͚̹͡ ̛̜͎̣̬̬̳̬k͍̼͎̮̥n̼̖̲̖̫̭̩ǫ̼͍w͚̘̳͎ w̻͓̠̮͓̞ͅh̵̟̘̣͚̲̗͎a̗̬t̵ ̹̖̫̮͜w͇̞̻e̟ ͍̙̗̠a̷͍r̞͙̬̩͝e͍͍̰̮͉ͅ ͙̲c͕̯a̳̣̗̻̩͎͘p̻̘̬͕a̖̩̹͙̠̮͙b͓̻̠̼̜̻͍̕l͝e̢͖̻ ̛̦o̷̬̖̠f̝͍̰͕̘̝͞

Dean finished his song and after him came the rest of the team each taking a turn but with both Christopher words and the voices in his head he thought he was going crazy!

''You would look so good as a backup singer when I become a star'' Christopher teased finally, Tyler got up from his seat as Rhonda finished her opera song. Tyler started to push his way through his friends and started to walk away from the place when Mr. Harmonia called for him.

''Tyler! if you are so eager to participate please be my guest, but the stage is here, child!'' the man said oblivious at how his words made it sound to Tyler like he was mocking him... and now he heard the voice as clear as day.

It was like a man, speaking with a deep and intoxicating voice, a voice that would tempt him, a voice that wanted to take control... a voice that took control.

'He also doesn't know, he doesn't know what you've been through, nobody does! but we can show them... let me take over, take control, take your body, let me use you and we will sing for them, show them you are everything they should be afraid of... just let me in...' the voice kept tempting him and maybe Tyler was too tired now, tired of fighting, tired of going long nights searching for nothing on the streets of both the meta and mortal world following a map that was probably a hundred years old! so tired of Christopher's teasing and of everyone's eyes looking at him like he was going to break.

His friends, didn't matter, his family was gone, that asshole telling him shit on his ear didn't knew shit either... Tyler stood there struggling, clenching his fists, digging his nails on his hands... he was so tired so he let the voice take over ''Go ahead'' he said and his eyes got filled with voids of black.

And Tyler never felt so good in his life, it was like a blanked being placed all over his body but also under his skin, it made him want to shiver and enjoy how this darkness spread on his body... and he grinned but that was not Tyler anymore, that was the voice that took over him.

''I would like to sing now!'' Tyler grinned to the teacher. 

.  
Taurus was walking with Michael on the underground tunnels they looked at the several tubes with people inside them with a green liquid that made them stay on a stasis like form. He looked at his personal prize, the parents of Tyler Suarez who were sleeping inside those tubes like no time has passed at all.

''Are the new recruits getting better?'' Taurus asked Michael and he searched for a paper on his pockets. He gave it to him. ''I see, so those are still refusing to work, I guess we will have to force them then'' he shrugged and gave the list back to Michael. ''You know Mike, we are so close, so close to Elizabeth, we will succeed I'm sure of it! and of course we have a couple enemies, Tyler Suarez included but if I remember correctly it is only a matter of time before the curse takes over'' Taurus said and walked while holding Michael's hand. ''Just a song, that's all it takes, he finishes a song and Tyler's mind is forever gone, the curse will infect him and he will be one of us'' he smiled.

Just a song.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next song for the next ep is a scene I've been wanting to write for so LONG! i will get to it right now and Hopefully it will be out in a few days!   
> Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day!


	10. Chapter 10: The Kids Aren't Alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Song for this chapter: Let's Dance, Lady Gaga.
> 
> Alright alright alright!  
> Chapter is done! the next one won't be as quick since I will be getting more work starting next week but I will try to get it as soon as I can.
> 
> The next chapter will be a musical episode as most of the irregulars will be auditioning for the team! hope you guys get ready that spotify!  
> Also to imagine the dead drop I'm describing on the scene please search for the drag queen Aquaria doing a dead drop to 'Swish Swish Bish'
> 
> any ways enjoy the new one!

Chapter 10:  
The Kids Aren't Alright

.  
There were just a few things Christopher actually cared about, one was his kingdom, other was his ally Pamela, other ,and the new addition to the list, was Tyler but there was one thing that he cared a lot for, one thing he wanted to have and he wished that it came true more than anything was him being a star.

He craved the spotlight like he craved water when he was thirsty and even then he would exchange a glass of water for a chance to be on stage getting everyone's attention, getting the lights on his face and the people listening to every word that comes out of his mouth.

So it came as a surprise when this boy came...he didn't expect Tyler Suarez to fight with his feelings of being a star so furiously, honestly he felt conflicted, on one hand he wanted to get Tyler's attention, he wanted Tyler to look at him and smile like he did before he found about that damn list and on the other hand he wanted to be the biggest star ever and surpass even his father, he didn't care if he had to trample over people to do it even people like Tyler.

But still he was struggling, he wanted Tyler to be by his side but he wanted to be the center of attention as well so now he was really trying not to scowl when Tyler said he wanted to sing, because he knew Tyler was going to do such a great job with his illusions and performance and that voice he had and by the way when did Tyler got over his heartbreak disease?

In the end you could just say that Christopher was jealous that he was not going to be the star today and Tyler hasn't even gotten into the stage! he was really struggling to go before him and do such a great job that Tyler would have to back down on his performance but he couldn't do it without making Tyler believe that he was still being an asshole...

A few first years cheered, Christopher looked over at them and he saw a few rolling their eyes and others cheering happily, that kid, Zacharias, who seemed to be very nervous to be on the choir room and kept hiding behind his sister's shoulder, looked serious but he was still clapping with the rest. Christopher felt so annoyed that they weren't clapping for him!

Mr. Harmonia cleared his throat. ''Very well, Mr. Suarez! if you want to perform I guess I will have to give you the stage now'' he said happily and poofed himself from the stage to a seat in the back of the room so he could see the performance. Tyler who was still on the hall between the rows of seats from where he announced a few seconds ago he wanted to sing. 

His friends seemed as surprised as Christopher was, he found it odd but he supposed that Tyler didn't told them he could sing again.

''Well...'' Tyler said putting his hands on his pockets, his voice sounded a little bit more... subtle, like he was enjoying the feel of his voice coming out of his own throat. ''I guess it's time to act'' Tyler looked at the instruments laying on the stage and pointed to them and snapped his fingers.

*SNAP*

''Hit it!'' he said and the music started playing.

◘ Now playing : Just Dance by Lady Gaga

As the music began Tyler just posed with his arms across his eyes, he then started to walk when as he sang ''RedOne, Konvict. GaGa, oh, eh'' he walked to the stairs of the stage and ran to the center of it.

''I've had a little bit too much, much (oh, oh, oh)'' he threw his hat to the side and messed with his hair a bit, he seemed so out of it right now, he smiled wickedly almost playfully and...sexily? ''All of the people start to rush (start to rush by)'' he looked around acting like he was confused.

''A dizzy twister dance, can't find my drink or man'' he twisted his hips a bit. ''Where are my keys? I lost my phone, phone (oh, oh, oh)'' he tried to find items on his pockets but found nothing and acted like he was nervous he looked at the audience with a funny look like he was overly acting everything.

He sank to the floor. ''What's goin' on on the floor?'' he put his ear close to the floor and the audience laughed and surprisingly to everyone, the first year irregulars joined from their seats to sing the next part in unison ''I love this record, baby, but I can't see straight anymore'' Tyler saw this and grinned ''(woo!)''

Only Dante from his seat could recognize that his eyes turned black for a second, he nudged Virgil quickly. ''V, I think he is cursed'' he whispered.

''Keep it cool, what's the name of this club?'' Tyler Pondered, ''I can't remember but it's alright, a-alright'' with a twirl he threw his cape away and Christopher had never seen Tyler dance like did when he sang the chorus.

''Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm. Just dance, spin that record, babe, da da doo-doo-mmm. Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance. Dance, dance, just, j-j-just dance'' he danced as the ones who knew the song joined. 

Tyler stopped dancing and looked at the audience, directly to Christopher as he walked from the back of the stage to the front, slowly, like he was using his whole body to get his attention.  
Ty placed a finger in front of his mouth like he was hushing someone. ''Wish I could shut my playboy mouth (oh, oh, oh)'' he licked the finger from the bottom to the tip of it. If the audience didn't collectively blushed they would be lying. Christopher felt like he was melting.

''How'd I turn my shirt inside out? (Inside out, right)'' he untucked his shirt moving it a bit up to show part of his tummy and covered quickly, he wasn't going to turn his shirt, he just wanted to tease Christopher, he wanted to tease them all.

''Control your poison, babe, roses have thorns, they say'' he walked backward to the center of the stage and made a move. ''What's'' he raised his right leg all the way to the front, ''Going'' he still stood on one leg as he moved the right one all the way to the back. ''On'' the leg he still used to keep balance he used to turn and give the audience his back and then, ''On the floor?'' he did a dead drop.

The irregulars turned crazy, even the ones who rolled their eyes before like Amy and Nelly got up and cheered snapping their fingers.

''I love this record, baby, but I can't see straight anymore'' the choir sang  
''Keep it cool, what's the name of this club?'' He asked them getting up and the choir responded singing back ''I can't remember but it's alright, a-alright (woo!)''

As he sang the chorus Christopher was unable to take it anymore, Tyler got the attention of everyone again, got them to sing with him, even the girl with the bandages on her eyes seemed to be enjoying it excitedly and she wasn't able to see the performance. Tyler wasn't even using illusions this time but he was getting all the energy in the room.

Christopher couldn't take it, he rushed to the stage, he knew the song it was on the device Tyler gave him last year, he knew he had to get the spotlight now. Tyler saw him and grinned as he finished the chorus, he let Christopher come to the stage making the people gasp. ''When I come through on the dance floor checkin' out that catalog (hey)'' he looked at Ty and walked to him almost as slow and seductively as Tyler did before.

''Can't believe my eyes, so many women without a flaw (hey)'' he sang getting close to him, Tyler smirked, he didn't pulled away from how close they were, ''And I ain't gon' give it up, steady tryna pick it up like a call (hey). I'ma hit it, I'ma beat it and flex and do it until tomorr' yeah'' Chris sang and to his pleasure the choir sang with him.

''Shawty I can see that you got so much energy'' the choir sang as Christopher placed his fingers on Tyler's chin and smiled at him, hunger in his eyes. ''The way you're twirlin' up them hips 'round and 'round'' as on cue Tyler pulled away, slapping his hand and getting in front twirling. ''And now there's no reason at all why you can't leave here with me'' the choir sang and on a bold move Christopher placed his hand on Ty's hips. Tyler grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, almost touching their noses with both their rivalry, anger and a playful smirk on both faces. ''In the meantime stay and let me watch you break it down'' they pulled apart.

Christopher, craving the attention, pushed Tyler a bit to the side and came to the front of the stage, Tyler now seemed mad, his eyes finally turned completely black. From the audience, Dante knew what kind of curse was, it was trying to take over his body. He looked at Virgil with worry and Virgil nodded and they both pushed their way through their classmates to get to Mr. Harmonia.

''And dance, gonna be okay (oh) da da doo-doo-mmm, Just dance (ooh yeah), spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm'' they both sang their parts, Tyler smiled wickedly as he got closer to Christopher's back. ''Woo! let's go!'' Christopher sang but in that second Tyler pushed him out off the stage, Christopher fell on the rows of seats. The whole team and the squad got up looking now at the unsettling scene.

Tyler's eyes were black, all could see that now. As he sang a black mass like clouds made of viscous darkness started to come out from under Tyler's clothes and the cloud grew all around him as he sang ''Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic. Got my blueprint, it's symphonic. Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic. Got my blueprint electronic'' mouths started to come out from the black mass and sang with him , his smile seemed so creepy and black clouds were coming out of his mouth, black tears on his eyes. ''Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic. Got my blueprint, it's symphonic. Half psychotic, sick, hypnotic. Got my blueprint electronic''

Christopher got up from his fall and looked horrified at Tyler looking possessed by something he'd never seen before. He knew in a second that was not his Tyler.

'̻̭̝̭̻̝̞'̙̩͝G̻͖̼o̢̭͎͔!̛̩̞̞͔͓  
̝͉̮̙̟̮͈Ṳ̦̙̰̭͡s̖̝e̼͖̺͙͉̦͕ ̵̳y̹o̡̮ͅu̻͕͓͇̺̻͝r̸̩̥̣ ̫̤m̷͉̮u̷̱̥scl̤̹̘ͅe̴͔̦͚̯̮̝̗,̧̜ ̨͖ͅc̸͖̗̱̖͍a̳͓r̘͈̭͓͚̖̺v̼e̤̜ ̜̼̥͔̰̜͈i̢̺̙̻̹t̼̜̤̹̪͠ ̧͇̹͉̻͙o͏͖͔̭͉̪̺ͅu̺͟t͔͟,͖̬͇͎͕̫̝͠ ̢̭͖͕̙̲̖w̯̣̞̕o̺̬̤͍r̝͔͔͔̯̩k̳͓̞̰̲͓͇ ҉͔̬̯̹̰̫̫i̬͚̫̺͔̠t͖̖,̞ ̟̬̻̼̗̣͓h̬͝u̙̮͔s͏t͇͓̳̭̜̗̰l͕̣̬͍͢e̛̦̙  
̡̫̪͇I̶̪͎͎ ̩̖͖̼g͙o̴̙̼̩͉t̪ ̬̝͕̙͠i͓̱̩͙͔̪ͅt͡,̭̯̳̖ ̝͔̟̥͙j͍ų̳s҉͙t̠ ̸̻̮̜̦s͍͙t̼͞a̪̜̪̹y̜̘̝̘ͅ ͍̘͞c̟̲̘̘͚lo͕͎̪͉̟̦̩s̴̜e̷̯̻̘̪ ͍̱ȩ̱̪̘̬̤̗͎n͖̟͈o̜͓͎u̴͕̥̫̺͎̘͓g͍̳͎͉̕h ͍̬͎̖̳̳͠ț͜o͓̲̭̻͚̖̼ ̛̪͙̻͔̜g̴̝̝̞̬͈ę̬̭t̛̫̙̪̫͉̜ ̭̼͓̳it̨̳̝ ͍̲͓̭̣̯͎ơ͔̖̳n  
͉̼͕͙̣͝D͎͢o͢n̼͉'̴̯̳̟t͔͍͓̜̲̕ ̲̪̗̳̥̤ṣ̠lo̮͕͔̜̟̟͜ͅw̤͈͕̘̟̩!͚  
͚̱̗̮̲Ḏ͈̻̙̖͘r̭̭ͅi̶̩̤v̭̺͓͉e̤̟̝̝̺ ̶̣̙̝͉̩̹ͅi̳͚͓ţ̪͍̟̙͙,̪̠͔̙ ̖c̦̩͈̫l͔̥̗ͅe̢̘͎a҉̳͚̪̘͙̹n̡͉ i̤ͅt̳̞͓͓̰̭̟,̧͎̘̼͍̤ ̧̫̱̤̗̙̯l̤i̞̣g̢̥͍̬̦ḥ̗̠͢t̠͔̣s͈̗͎͘ͅ ̞̮̥̗̟̝o̹̭̝͇u̯͞t͏,͖̭͔̼͖͙ ̨͓̮̼b̝̗̞l̰e̻͓̝͞e͙͔̮̹͖̝͍d͔̱͓̜̗̻̥͠ ̳̪͍͟i̬̯̳̰̘͚̳t̴̜͎̮͎͚,̱͕̝̫̩̲ ͖͙̲̟͈͎͞s̳̦̬̠̼̱ͅp̧̣͓̞̩̙̮en̮̻̦̖̣d̰͕̮͉̘̯̹ t̬̼̼̥h̷̯̬̯͖e͟ ̞̘͙͉͉l̯͍͙a̜̺͞s͚̠̗t̢̘̪̱o̞͕̰  
̩̠̯I̯͢ ̬̥̗̫͍go̵̙̜͎̹͇̗t̢̮̹̣ ͖̤̺͈̞̯̺i̩̺̮͙̭ͅt̨̖̱͕̦  
̛̩̬̮I̖̭̺͍n̶ ̛̪y͕o̹̩̟̹̹̮̪͢u͞r̝̲ ͏̗̱p̛̰͕̘̟͙̳̥o̫͙̮͕ͅc͖̤̣̠͝ͅk͡o  
̮̞͚I̗͡ ̮̭̞̪g̤͉̪̟͚̠̣o̩̱̩̱͈̙͡t ̷̝͙it̞̯̘'̴̫̪͈͈̜'̠̗̗̕

The mouths sang with him.

Dante and Virgil reached the teacher. ''Mr. Harmonia he is cursed! the curse is trying to take over his body!'' yelled Virgil at the shocked teacher. ''You can't let him finish the song! the curse will take over'' Yelled Dante and the teacher reacted, he got up and poofed himself to the front row next to Christopher.

''Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm, Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm, Just dance'' The mouths sang with wicked grins. ''Baby!'' yelled Tyler with them and he started to float in the air raising his arms to the side like he was being carried away, ''gonna be okay, da da doo-doo-mmm. Just dance, spin that record babe, da da doo-doo-mmm (baby, yeah). Just dance, gonna be okay, d-d-d-dance (spin that record, baby, yeah).

Mr. Harmonia readied his wand and shot a spell to Tyler. ''Dance, dance, just, j-j-just d-'' Tyler sang but the spell hit him in the head and he floated for a bit, the clouds all got back on his mouth in seconds and he seemed in pain, he then fell to the ground, hard, they all even heard something cracking. Mr. Harmonia quickly poofed himself to the stage where he was unconscious.

''Someone call Mrs. Black, Mr. Romero and come to the infirmary at once!'' the teacher yelled and took Tyler on his arms with care and poofed himself out. The older members of the club quickly poofed themselves away, probably going to find Mrs. Black and Mr. Romero.

''What the fuck did just happened?'' yelled Alex to nobody in particular. Virgil came rushing to them. ''A curse, a powerful one. We were able to identify it before he finished the song'' he said. ''What, why would the song matter?'' asked Lucia looking shaken, Virgil started to rush away from them and yelled ''I will explain on our way, let's go to the infirmary!'' he yelled and the whole squad followed.

Some irregulars looked at each other, Ophelia quickly held her brother's hand. ''Zae, that sounds bad, let us go too'' she said, Zachary nodded, ''Yes, I'm also worried for him'' he said and helped her up. ''Let's go too!'' Gabriel said to Gracie and Vice and the girls ran with him, Amy and Nelly seemed shaken, they didn't say anything but they followed as well.

Zach looked over his shoulder he saw Christopher still on the front row looking confused and shocked. ''You are worried as well right?! stop spacing out and let's go!'' he said and Christopher seemed to be awaken, he ran with them.

It was odd for many students see such a big group of both second and first year students running together. ''What do you mean, cursed?'' Winn asked Virgil as they rushed. ''As you know I have some...interest in researching curses'' Virgil said looking subtly at Dante. ''I read a while ago about a slow pacing curse who infected the brain, heart and soul, it roots on a person and when it's ready to hatch it only needs to sing a song to take over a body... permanently'' he explained.

Lucia seemed so confused. ''But how, how did Tyler got cursed, we've been with him almost all the time, was it when we fought earlier this term?'' she asked the squad but they seemed as confused, Winn seemed to think for a while. ''No, I also know a bit about those kind of curses and I remember reading that they need time to get installed into a body, Tyler had to get cursed last year or even during vacation'' Winn said.

Alex shook his head. ''It couldn't be during vacation, Tyler was either having fun with Husky or us or with his parents, there was no way he got cursed and we didn't noticed, or Husky for that matter!'' he said.

Virgil looked puzzled. ''Well, as I remember, this type of curse is strong, it needs a special kind of malice to be casted, it can't be saved on objects like the book that cursed me the other day, and it needs to be shot directly from a wand to the head of a person'' he looked at the squad. ''Was Tyler shot anytime last year or over the summer?''

The voice of Christopher came from behind the rushing group. ''Taurus Wellpoint, after kidnapping the irregulars last year, before he crossed that portal he shot him on the head!'' he said. The squad knew that had to be it.

Last year, right before the rioters ran away, Taurus shot a curse to his head, Tyler was taken to the infirmary at that moment but they determined nothing bad happened. ''But when Tyler got treated they didn't found any curses on his body'' Winnifred said remembering that.

''The curse must've hid somewhere inside Tyler and avoided any magical scans, without having the one who shot the curse or their wand it would be impossible to know until something like this happens, but there must've been signs, did Tyler shown any out of character signs? something that changed his personality drastically'' Virgil asked them.

Winn thought about it. ''His parents went missing, after that he seemed out of it'' He mentioned, Virgil nodded. ''The curse needs something big to be triggered completely, that shock probably woke the curse sleeping inside him'' Virgil said.

Lucia thought as well ''When we fought, he pushed me without even touching me, I thought it was his magic acting up but he seemed so out of it, so angry and then so regretful after like he came back to be the same person as ever'' she said. 

Both Ophelia and Zach knew of another incident. ''When he saved us from those bullies, he used some kind of strength, some kind of darkness that was felt through the air, I remember that feeling, it was scary'' Ophelia said.

''So there were signs before it got this bad...'' Virgil said probably trying to get the logic of everything and put the puzzle together but that statment made the whole squad feel like shit.

''We should've noticed it...'' Winnie said sad voicing their feelings. ''Goddamn it Tyler...'' Alex said more angry that he didn't noticed than anything else and they all turned to a hallway that led to the big wooden doors of the infirmary.

They saw the choir team seating outside on couches waiting for something, Dean quickly spotted them. ''What are you guys doing here?'' he asked worriedly. ''Do you really need to ask?'' Alex questioned him back. 

Dean sighed. ''What I meant is, Ty is cursed, they are going to extract it but the surroundings can be dangerous for now, we don't know if the curse will get out and try to attach to someone else, you need to leave'' he said trying to warn them.

Lucia came forward, ''Yeah, that's not happening, we are not leaving him'' she said firmly, Dean seemed ready to say something else but at that moment the doors blasted open and out flying came Mr. Romero, he slid on the floor and hit his back on a pillar. 

The older students rushed to his side. ''Mr. Romero!'' Dean and Serena helped him up. ''I'm fine, the curse is just getting rowdy'' he said trying to smile to keep them calm but it didn't worked very much.

It didn't work because now with the doors wide open they could hear the screams, it was Tyler's voice mixed with several more speaking at the same time. ''Hold him tightly!'' yelled the voice of Mrs. Black. Mr. Romero quickly rushed back. ''Get back to your dorms at once we will take care of this'' he said before closing the door behind him.

''H-hey!'' yelled Alex and banged on the door. ''Hey! we need to know if he is alright!'' he yelled he looked at the rest and they were equally confused and pissed at how they were being sent back.

''We are not going'' Stated Winn. ''We just can't'' Added Winnie and Lucia was staring at her CIM. ''What are you doing?'' Alex asked and Lucia waved a hand dismissively at him. ''Getting Husky, he needs to know'' she said and the sound of someone crossing over the barrier came behind them.

''He already knows'' said Husky crossing the barrier with his parents and Rory. ''Husky!'' said Lucia going to him. ''Husky, they won't let us see him, he got cursed last year and nobody noticed! we don't know what to do'' she said desperately, Husky nodded, he seemed calmer than the last time this kind of situation happened, at least he wasn't immediately ripping doors open.

''We will see him, I'm his ward'' he assured her holding her arms affectionately. ''Thanks for calling me this time'' he smiled, his calm demeanor seemed to relax her a little. Rory came forward and placed his hand kindly on her hair. ''As soon as we were informed I called his guardians on of course his ward, but this place is kind of dangerous with a curse that strong trying to get out of Tyler's body, are you sure you want to stay?'' he asked her and the rest for that matter.

''I'm not leaving'' she said and the rest made their point just by sitting on the floor, even the ones who claimed they didn't liked Tyler sat down. ''That boy, he is so lucky to have people like you around'' Rory said and walked to the doors with the Husk family following behind. They walked into the infirmary.

.

Husky knew something was wrong soon, he was doing his homework on a table outside where Paul and Pietro kept trying to bother him, he flipped them off when he started to fill a chill up his spine. His skin became cold and his stomach sank, soon his instincts knew that something happened, he got up and ran to the woods where he called his parents. ''Dad! Mom! something is wrong, Ty is in trouble'' he said.

Talia who was taking a day off for once looked at his husband with a worried expression, she was about to get her their things to get ready for another trip to the meta-world when the sound of someone crossing over got their attention. Without any grace Rory fell from a circle that formed on their ceiling, he got up with some trouble. ''God... hate this kind of travel'' he said, ''By now you should know what happened, let's go!'' he said offering his hands to the couple, without hesitation they took his hands and they were transported to the woods where Husky was still on the phone. 

''Mom! Dad!'' Husky said when he saw them and ran to them. ''We are here now'' his dad said smiling, ''We will see him soon'' his mom said and looked at Rory and her expression grew worried. Rory looked really tired and ready to pass out. ''I'm fine!'' he stated trying to smile a bit, he took a potion from his coat and took a big sip from it. ''Just give me a couple seconds before we can cross'' he said and took another sip and then chugged it all down.... a minute later his body seemed to be going into some sort of restoration and he seemed better now, he composed himself a bit and offered his hands. ''Let's go!'' he said and they crossed over.

As soon as they crossed and Husky heard that Lucia was trying to contact him he felt really happy, they wanted him there right away to be with Ty, he looked at her worried expression and remembering all he could from his ward lessons with his parents he remembered that he needed to keep calm not only for Tyler but for the people around him as well.

He remained as calm as he could until the doors of the infirmary closed behind him and he saw the eerie scene.

Ty was tied up to a bed in the middle of the infirmary, a female teacher was trying to hold him in place with another holding his legs while a young looking teacher held his head and was chanting something rapidly and in whispers. The teacher that seemed to be the nurse seemed to be trying to put a needle with some golden thread on his vein but Tyler kept resisting.

He was yelling, he was screaming at top of his lungs calling for help but there were several voices with him, Husky never felt such uneasiness spread through his body as he did when he saw those eyes opening and black tears streaming down his face. ''Stay here for a second'' Rory said, both his parents nodded and if it seemed like they were going to follow Rory's directions he needed to do the same although his parents face were as uncomfortable as his.

Rory ran to Tyler and stood next to Mr. Romero who was trying to break the curse with chanting, he held his face and made Tyler look at him. ''Ty, hey boy, what's up my little one, can you see me? can you recognize me?'' he asked with a kind voice, quickly Tyler stopped screaming and he seemed to be able to see Rory but it was hard to tell with those voids as eyes. ''Rory?'' he spoke with those voices still in him. ''Rory? where is Papi y Mami? se los llevaron! Rory!'' he yelled again struggling once more. ''Dejenme! let me the fuck go!'' he yelled. Rory held his face. 

''It's alright little one, we will find them, we will, please be calm we need to find a way to help you'' he said, he then looked at the Husks and made a signal to Husky to get closer, Husky looked at his parents and they nodded with approval, Husky ran to his side.

''Ty?''

His eyes turned back to normal and he smiled. ''Husky...'' he said breathing better now, then his breath started to get rapid again and he seemed so scared. ''Husky it hurts! it hurts a lot! make them stop, tell them to let me go'' that last plead was made with eyes as dark as night. Husky did all he could and held his hand. ''Hang in there! don't give in they will let it out I promise!'' he tried but Tyler started to resist again with what it seemed superhuman strength.

Husky let go of his hand and held his face. ''Look at me Tyler, look at me'' he said tenderly and Husky didn't knew if those black voids were actually looking at him but it seemed like he was paying attention. ''You will be fine, nothing will happen, I promise you. I'm here, I will always be here, alright?''

''But...they are gone'' Tyler said. ''They are not gone! we will find them, I swear'' Husky said. Tyler seemed to calm for a second and it was that second when Mr. Romero managed to connect directly with the curse and started to chant loudly, Mrs. Trigueño connected the thread to the vein and started knitting rapidly.

.

Outside the rest were pacing up and down looking nervous. Some irregulars were sitting however and Nelly on her part seemed uncomfortable and definitely annoyed ''Why don't we get out of here? there is nothing we can do anyways'' she said to both Dante and Amy, Amy seemed hesitant but stood up with her. ''You are right, even if he pulls out of this one, it's not like he is our friend or anything'' she said.

Dante however remained seated. ''I will catch up to you'' he said faintly. Nelly seemed mad. ''Hey! just a while ago you were saying that you didn't care for him! what the fuck changed so much-'' she stopped when she saw the threat on Dante's sight. ''I say, I will catch up to you'' he said in a low growl, Nelly scoffed. ''Whatever'' she walked away with Amy waving a bit sadly and going after her....

''Nelly, why do you hate Tyler Suarez so much? I mean I'm honestly indifferent towards him but you seem to really dislike him'' Amy asked when they were out of earshot of the rest. Nelly sighed and turned to her. ''You don't want to die, do you Amy?'' she asked, Amy took a step back. ''W-what?'' she asked and Nelly sighed again.

''Never mind that, let's just leave'' she said walking away with Amy following.

back with the group Dante and Virgil were discussing the nature of the curse with Winn who had books on the matter out. ''Alright, so this seems to be the kind of curse that infects you and makes you lose yourself, are there any ways to counter it?'' Winn asked them as they seemed experimented with curses.

Virgil denied with his head. ''No, these type of curses are usually unbreakable, they can transfer it however to something else but it would take a whole team of curse breakers, they probably contacted them by now'' he reasoned, Dante seemed quiet for a while and when he was sure that nobody was looking at them...His pinky finger graced Virgil's

Virgil quickly looked at him as Dante pulled away and looked at him with a puzzled expression. Dante didn't smiled at him, he looked completely lost right now. ''There is...a quicker way'' he said.

Dante got up and walked to the door, he knocked the door of the infirmary once but when there was no answer he started to bang on it, Alex stopped his pacing ''Hey, what are you doing?!'' he asked but the door opened slightly with Talia peeking from the inside. ''Yes?'' she asked not looking very pleased.

Dante however didn't seemed bothered at all. ''Did you contacted curse breakers? how long will they take?'' he asked and Talia looked tiredly annoyed. ''Listen kid, I get it you are worried but we have something in our hands right now'' Talia attempted to close the door but Dante placed his boot on the frame before it closed. Talia snapped a look at him but again he seemed unbothered. ''Curse breakers, how long?'' he asked.

Talia looked ready to blow this kid away but she remained as calm as she could. ''The closest will take around an hour to get here, happy?'' she asked.

Dante was not happy at that information. ''That will be too long! his body won't be able to take it!'' he said and attempted to push the door pass her but Talia held the door with a hand. ''Just what do you think you are doing?'' she asked angrily.

''I can do it! let me do it!''Dante said, Virgil realized what was happening then and he ran to his side. ''Are you fucking nuts?! you can't do that, you don't know the magnitude of this curse and what it can do'' Virgil tried to reason with him but Dante kept trying to push. 

''I'm telling you, he will die... let me...help!'' Dante tried to push, ''Dante...'' Virgil whispered ''Are you sure of this?'' Virgil asked. Dante nodded. ''Let me be brave for once...'' he said and in that second Virgil started to push. 

''Children! I really do not have the time for this!'' Talia said still holding the door with one hand. ''What are you doing?!'' asked Alex from behind. 

Dante kept pushing with all his might. ''I can help him... Trust me, I need to do this'' he groaned. Alex didn't knew what was happening but hey! he never said no to that kind of determination.

In a second he started to push the door with them. Winn came from behind. ''Guys, that's a ward, you won't be able to push past her'' Winn said but the boys kept pushing and Talia seemed ready to blast them away with something threatening cornering on her eyes, Winn rolled his eyes and walked to the door and started to push as well. 

Winnifred came as well, ''I don't know what stupid thing you guys are doing now. But let me in!'' she said and pushed, Lucia came. ''Sorry Mrs. Husk, we have stubborn allies'' she started to push as well.

The door budged and Talia used both hands now to hold it. ''Kids! really, this is not going to help Tyler, believe me they are doing what they can to hold the curse until the curse breakers come here, it will be alright trust us adults'' she said. 

''Sorry... but some of us kids... don't have...'' Dante felt more people pushing when the whole choir team and the other irregulars started as well. Dante just took a second to lift his shirt a bit, showing only to Talia and nobody else the cigarette burn marks on his body. ''..Some of us kids don't have faith in adults'' he said and maybe it was that sight what made Talia get distracted for a second and of course she will be distracted, something like that on a child when she was a parent herself, it made her shocked in a second. That second of shock was all it took for Dante to bolt into the door.

First obstacle was Mr. Thaddeus Husk who quickly stood between him and Tyler on a bed at the middle of the room, he threw this hat upwards and that moment of distraction was only what he needed when his eyes turned black as night and some sort of black whips came from the grounds holding Mr. Husk down.

Dante rushed forward and the second obstacle came in the form of his teachers looking at him like he was crazy, Dante had no time to let them speak, to let them do anything against him right now.

In a second he sat on the ground and opened his mouth as wide as he could.

''What the-'' Mrs. Black started but in that same moment Tyler stopped squirming and moving and he opened his mouth in the same way.

''Wait, stop!'' Mr. Romero said realizing what was happening but it was way too late for anyone to do anything. The black void that was the physical form of the curse started to float from Tyler's mouth and it grew to the ceiling, the curse then shot itself into Dante's mouth and it completely came inside him.

And it was like light came through the windows for the first time since Tyler had been on the infirmary, he opened his eyes and they were back to normal, he looked around a bit finally looking at Husky and his teachers. ''Hey...'' Tyler said on a hoarse voice. ''Hey!'' Husky said back and helped him sit up. He seemed so happy to see Tyler better...

Then Tyler quickly looked at Dante who was still sitting with his eyes closed, in the little things he could remember he remembered what just happened. ''Oh, Dante, what have you done?'' he asked and the boy opened his eyes.

His eyes looked normal, he seemed normal and like nothing happened to his body or mind, Dante then yawned, ''This fickle little thing? you had trouble managing this curse?'' he asked sarcastically getting up but wobbling a bit, in a second Virgil was already inside the infirmary next to him to support him.

''Can somebody explain to me what just happened?'' Mrs. Black asked startled. Dante and Virgil looked at each other and Dante shrugged. ''I've been cursed since I was nine, I have several curses inside me but I have one that is by far the most annoying one'' Dante said and rubbed the back of his neck. ''I have a curse that contains the other curses from acting at full force it holds them in place and they don't act at full force, they only tend to implode a tiny bit and harm my body but it's all reversible... this same curse however makes the other curses irreversible, they are not able to get out of my body while I'm alive so until today I've been accumulating around nine curses inside me... oh I guess that with today's curse is ten curses!'' he said shrugging a bit.

''H-hold on, Dante, you are heavily cursed then, your body...'' Rory tried to get close but Dante took a step back. ''I'm fine! I've been living with these for a while now and...'' He looked at Virgil. ''I have help, so I knew that one more curse wouldn't be too much, I will keep it at bay from acting up'' Dante said.

''Dante, why would you do such a thing?'' Tyler asked from his bed. ''I didn't do it for you, I did it because somehow I had to apologized for the things I said the other day and make emends with some people, don't think we are friends though, I definitely don't need more friends that I already have'' Dante said and turned ready to leave but stopped to snap his fingers and untie the black roots that were still holding Mr. Husk.

Mrs. Black walked to him ''Mr. Mare, Where do you think you are going? as procedure you should remain here until we can make sure your body is alright from accepting Tyler Suarez' curse! and we will need to contact your parents, they will need to know what is happening to you'' she said.

The fear on Dante's eyes was something Talia didn't want to see, because it confirmed the suspicions she had. Dante looked at Mrs. Black. ''P-please don't call my dad. I'm fine, I've been holding curses for a long time and I've been able to survive until now, there is no need to call him! please'' Dante tried to smile. Talia walked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

''You don't want us to call him? but at least let the curse breaker team that is coming to take a look at you, can you do that for me?'' she asked nicely, her voice was motherly and warm, Dante nodded rapidly. ''Fine! fine, yes, I can do that, just, he is too busy! please don't... don't call him'' Dante grinned and walked to a bed and sat on it, ''It's fine if I wait here, right?'' he asked and lowered his head not looking at anyone.

Mrs. Black looked at the whole scene with an eerie feeling, she was about to say something else about procedures when Talia held her arm. ''I would be very thankful if you don't call that kid's parents, we will go and talk to the headmaster about this and your cooperation, Mrs. Black'' Talia smiled.

Mrs. Black was not a stupid woman, she knew something was happening but it seemed like the prospect of having her name on the good side of a powerful ward was tempting, she agreed with it and informed the rest of the teachers that they should not call Dante's parents.

In the end, Dante and Tyler were to remain on the medical ward for further inspection from the curse breaker team that arrived an hour later and when the headmaster heard about this he came as well. The irregulars and the choir was dismissed to go to their rooms as the curse breaker team searched for any remains of the curse on Tyler's body.

Husky stayed on the medical ward with his parents looking closely at the inspection, Husky only looked away when Tyler was being stripped so they could search any signs of curses on his skin. Of course curtains were closed to protect his privacy but Husky was still embarrassed and looked away...

The curse breaker team and Rory who insisted on be present for Dante's inspection were shaken to find all those burns on his body. ''It's the volcanic curse...'' Dante lied. ''Sometimes it burns my body and I need water to calm it down, most scars disappear but some remain like those...'' he adverted his eyes, Rory took note of this, he took note of every lie the boy was telling, he took a personal note to research this boy's family as soon as he could.

The next morning Tyler was released, he came into the boy's common room with Husky still holding his arm and found a group of sleeping boys laying on sleeping bags on the ground and on couches all around the place. Alex, Winn, Gabriel, Zach, Virgil, Dino, Dean and even Christopher on the far end of the room sleeping against a wall. Surprisingly he also noticed the girls, Lucia, Winnifred, Ophelia, Gracie, Vice all on a big sleeping bag on the floor with what it seem like short wigs on their heads and fake mustaches.

Tyler couldn't take that sight and laughed, he laughed out loud and he felt like it was the first time he'd laughed like that with no voices telling him anything, with nothing annoying him inside or telling him evil things on his ear. He just laughed waking everyone up.

Alex opened his eyes lazily. ''Wha-, oh shit! guys he is here!'' he jumped out of his sleeping back smacking Winn on the face who woke up abruptly put on his glasses and got up as well. The rest woke up and ran to him asking all sorts of questions about how was he and what happened, Tyler laughed and tried to calm them down telling them he was fine, he felt better than he'd felt in a while.

''But what are the girls doing here?'' he asked. The girls laughed. Lu tried to explain ''Well, Ophelia has special permission to visit his brother here sometimes, you know because she needs his help sometimes because of her eyes and all! she was allowed to come here and wait for you but we thought it was unfair and wanted to wait for you here as well! so we designed these costumes to come and the magic of the dorms wouldn't kick us out'' she said stroking her fake mustache.

Tyler burst out laughing and smiled. ''Thank you all, I am so sorry I scared you like that'' he said his eyes quickly fell on V. ''V, Dante will be released shortly as well, wanna go for a bite and then wait for him outside the infirmary?'' he asked, V blinked a couple times and he nodded, Tyler smiled at the rest. ''Who is hungry?!'' he asked them all and they all raised their hands.

.  
Ty didn't knew how it happened but he had a whole table of friends, a whole table of people who cared about him, an entire row of people who he cared about and wanted to protect, his parents were not with him and even though that brought him pain he knew that he was going to find them, there was no doubt now, no voices telling him otherwise, he had to believe.

Ty looked around, he briefly wondered where Christopher had gone but he forgot about it when another thought came to his mind. ''I think I wanna take that audition again'' Tyler said stuffing his mouth on a piece of toast, the squad laughed with him then.

After eating a lot of them broke apart, the squad with V waited by the door of the infirmary for a while until it opened and Dante came out looking annoyed, he looked up at them and smirked. ''What are you losers doing here?'' he said and V shoved a piece of toast on his mouth. ''Eat you idiot'' he said and walked away. Dante huffed annoyed and walked after him. ''You! come back here you stone cold son of a bitch!'' he went after V leaving them all behind.

''He seems...normal'' Lu mentioned. Winn nodded in agreement, ''Well, he'd been dealing with curses for a while, maybe he will be alright'' he said and quickly looked around and took out something out of his pocket pack, the rest watched as he produced a small piece of paper. ''More importantly I think it's time for us to go back and find out more about what the twisted had hidden on that portrait, I managed to figure out some of the symbols but I'm still researching some others, we might be able to find more after tryouts'' he said.

Then Tyler remembered. ''Hey! that's right! tryouts for the FrozenCoul are tomorrow!'' he said shaking Husky excitedly. ''What is that? the boiling skating game you mentioned that other time?'' Husky asked and Tyler nodded. ''Yes! Lu, Al and Winnie are going to try out for it!'' he grinned and looked at his friends.

Alex rested his arms on his head, he seemed cheerful but still a hint of nervousness was painted in his face. ''Yup! We've been practicing a lot of ice spells'' he said. Lucia on her side looked slightly embarrassed. ''Also skating, that part hasn't been that hard but we still had to practice a bit'' and then Winnifred who looked completely pumped up for the whole thing grinned. ''We are so getting into the team! last year our team didn't even made it to the regional but this year for sure we can do it!'' she threw a fist to the air.

Winn smiled gently at them. ''Good luck to you all, Tyler and I will be cheering from the bleachers'' he said. Husky sighed. ''Man, I wish I could see it!'' he complained, ''You are not coming?'' asked Lucia and Husky shook his head. ''Nah, now that Tyler is better I have to go back to school, my parents are crossing over the realms with me in like an hour or so'' 

Tyler stoked his hand and smiled up at him. ''Hey! I will transmit you the whole thing live from the CIM, don't worry about it!'' he said, Husky turned completely red on the cheeks and nodded. ''You better!'' 

The squad walked for a bit until it was time for Husky to go, Talia and Thaddeus said they goodbyes, left Tyler with a bag of baked treats and hugged him tightly promising they will be in contact, Husky held onto Tyler for a while and then they crossed over.

As soon as Husky's parents had to leave him at his school his mind started to run to Tyler, his smile after the curse got out of him had been so genuine and honest, like it was before his parents went missing and of course that sadness was still there but his determination was not wavering anymore, he seemed ready for anything and Husky following that sentiment made a decision.

''After we find them, I'm telling him how I feel'' Husky said to himself, he was ready now, he didn't fear rejection or anything like that, he was ready for whatever outcome he would have but he had to let Tyler know that he loved him.

With a determined face Husky walked towards his school.

.

Tyler was finishing changing and sat on a bench on the locker rooms next to the showers and baths of the school. Ty was drying his hair with a towel while Nox was resting besides him. He then heard Nox hissing and someone sat besides him, he turned just slightly and then looked forward quickly because...because next to him was a very wet and very naked -except for a towel- Christopher who started to change sitting next to him.

Tyler quickly started to put on his socks and his shoes to try to get out of there when his voice came from the sides. ''I know you hate me right now and I deserve that but...'' Tyler didn't want to hear anything he had to say, he finished to put on his shoes and got up. ''...I'm so glad you're okay'' he said, Tyler was about to snap at him but he couldn't find the anger he had before, sure he was mad but there wasn't nearly as angry as he was before he got the curse extracted from his body.

Tyler didn't find the words of anger to say to him but someone else did, in a second another wet and almost naked boy slammed his leg on the bench and hunched over Christopher looking at him. ''Need something, farm boy?'' asked Christopher and Alex gritted his teeth. ''Didn't I told you not to talk to him, ever again?'' he said.

''I can talk to whoever I want'' Christopher shot back looking straight into his eyes. Alex got his face really close to Christopher's ''No, you cannot talk to him! you don't deserve even a glance from any of us after what you did'' Alex snarled.

Tyler was feeling really uncomfortable, from both boys being naked so close but also because of the imminent fight, he was about to pull Alex out of the confrontation when Winn tapped on his shoulder and pulled on his arm, gladly Winn was fully dressed but his hair was still sort of wet. ''Let's go, let them settle this'' he said.

''Winn? no wait, if we leave them alone they are going to start fighting for real'' he said but Winn started to pull him out of the lockers. ''I honestly don't care, Alex can probably rip his head out, let just leave them at that'' he said pulling Tyler out despite his protests.

Christopher quickly knew what that was about, Winn didn't want to give him even a chance to let him explain, to tell Tyler he was sorry, he knew that all of Tyler's friends were going to interfere between them as much as they could.

''I'm done talking to you, farm boy, go roll over with your pigs while I catch up to Suarez'' Christopher said, Alex huffed. ''Hah?! Catch up to him? why are you still trying to go after him? didn't he told you himself he was done with you? why are you so desperately trying to go after him and....'' Alex looked at Christopher's face and backed down a step. Alex noticed that Christopher hid his face and stared at the door longingly like he was actually trying to catch up with Tyler with his mind...

And it downed on Alex that that stare was real. ''You sick son of a bitch, you actually fell for him didn't you?'' he asked as incredulous and disgusted at the thought of it but the snapping look Christopher gave him confirmed his suspicions. ''What the fuck, did you made that plan to mess up with him and then you actually fell in love? what kind of bullshit is that?'' Alex asked, Christopher rolled his eyes and started to get changed, Alex shook his head slowly, by now Christopher would be denying any statements of liking Tyler but he remained silent... so his feelings were that intense he couldn't even lie and deny them anymore?

No, Alex would not have this! he was not going to let his best friend be chased after this sick fuck! ''I will not let you! Tyler will not be with you in a million years as long as I am here'' he declared, Christopher smirked. ''Who the fuck gave you Suarez' chastity belt's key? you are going to control who he dates now?'' he laughed softly, Alex felt mortified at those words. ''I'm so sick of your attitude! I'm completely done! we will settle this like men! after tryouts, magic war, your team versus mine!'' Alex challenged Christopher.

Christopher laughed. ''Magic war? do you even know how to play that game?'' Christopher asked almost finishing to put on his clothes. ''Scared?'' Alex smirked and that made Christopher snap at him. ''I am not scared of you'' he growled. ''Good! if you lose then you will have to give up on Tyler and leave him alone'' he challenged. 

Christopher walked towards the door. ''Fine, but if I win...I want something from Suarez as well'' he said and before Alex could go against that statement Christopher walked away.

.

Justine was at the table with her mom and Chance was next to her. The dinner was long forgotten and had gotten cold, Judge Palmerson was rubbing her temples looking at the papers in front of her.

''Judge, please! these are the only candidates that could've done something like this!'' Chance begged her.

''Mom, we need the search order, all these evidence...'' Justine said but the judge stopped her.

''I'm sorry, but even after analyzing all of this, the evidence is circumstantial, just because some of the tunnels under the city lead to the catacombs and basements of this family it doesn't mean they are involved in the attacks!'' She said getting up from the table. 

Justine was done with all this bullshit. ''Oh come on! you are just scared because this is one of the main benefactors of the city!'' Justine was going to complain more but her mouth was zipped shut. Her mom was looking at her with anger. ''Now watch your mouth Justine! I will not be called a coward in my own home, just one call from me and you are off this case! don't go after this family and I won't pull you out of this case myself'' she growled.

She unzipped her and left the dining room in a hurry. Justine looked at her form leave with an angry and pained look. Slowly she walked to the papers and took them in her hands. 

''Chance, I know they are guilty of this...'' Justine said and Chance nodded. ''What do you want to do?''

''We will go after them! wherever the judge wants it or not! we will need a plan but if we manage to sneak into these catacombs we will find something, I'm sure of it'' she declared. Chance nodded. ''Then let's form a plan, but Justine, this will be difficult, they have hundreds of workers that come and go from that place every day, we will have to be very careful''

''Don't worry chance. Careful is my middle name'' she said and grabbed the pictures and papers with her.

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well yo hoo chocolate yahoo  
> Hope you guys enjoyed this one, if you can hear Let's dance a couple of times more imagining that scene I'm sure you will enjoy it. Anyways hope to read u guys soon have a marvelous day!

**Author's Note:**

> SHABLAM!  
> cliffhanger, who guessed? me! i did! i guessed!  
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter  
> PLEASEEEEE coment cuz it keeps me encouraged!  
> will see u guys in the new chapter!


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